
Book.. 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



THESPIRIT OF 
SERVICE 

BY 

RICHARD H. GILBERT, D. D. 




BOSTON 

THE GORHAM PRESS 

MCMXVIII 



CopyHght, 1»1«, by Richard H. Gilbert 



All Rights Reserved 






MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



The GoRHAM Press, Boston, U. S. A* 
©QLA503817 



To my Friends 

Ministerial and Lay 

of the 

Central Pennsylvania Conference 

of the 

Methodist Episcopal Church 

and to the memory 

of the 

Rev. William Wilson Evans, D. D. 

This Book Is Affectionately 

Dedicated 



PREFACE 

IT is really remarkable how large a place the term 
"social service" has come to occupy in modern 
speech. The pulpit and press have apparently com- 
bined in an earnest endeavor to proclaim the gos- 
pel of intelligent, persevering and Christian help. 

The fine words of the apostle Paul, "No man 
liveth unto himself," are being emphasized in many 
practical ways, and the noble sentiment of William 
Cullen Bryant, echoing as they do the life-message 
of the Christ, whose succinct biography of five words 
— "Who went about doing good" — is being incar- 
nated in an ever-increasing number of lives. 

"Dear ties of mutual succor bind 

The children of our feeble race ; 
And if our brethren were not kind. 
This earth were but a weary place. 

We lean on others as we walk 

Life's twilight path, with pitfalls strewn; 
And 'twere an idle boast to talk 

Of treading that dim path alone. 

Amid the snares misfortune lays 

Unseen beneath the steps of all, 
Blest is the love that seeks to raise. 

And stay, and strengthen those who fall; 

3 



4 Preface 

Till, taught by Him who for our sake 

Bore every form of life's distress, 
With every passing year we make 

The sum of human sorrow less." 

The "sum of human sorrow" is a huge aggregate, 
and constitutes a mighty challenge to all who pro- 
fess the name of the "Son of Man," humanity's 
"Elder Brother." A huge task, indeed, and viewed 
in the light of merely human resources alone, a 
task well calculated to discourage to the point of 
despair. But the doubtful question, "Who is suf- 
ficient for these things?" is sufficiently answered by 
the assurance, "I can do all things through Christ 
strengthening me." Then we must recognize the 
power there is in union, and see the inspiration as 
well as the good sense there is in the old adage, 
"Many hands make light work." The point here 
to be emphasized is the availability of the power 
adequate to the accomplishment of the task, given 
that the will to do — the spirit of service — be de- 
veloped. 

In all the world there is not an intelligent human 
being so lowly in circumstance, or meagre in endow- 
ment, as not to be necessary in some part of the 
great field of human endeavor; not one for whom 
"the Lord of the harvest" has no commission. Take 
two of our Lord's parables, The laborers in the vine- 



Preface 5 

yard, (Matt. xx:i-i6) ; and the two sons, (Matt. 
xxi:28-32), and the inclusive character of His com- 
mission is made plain. These parables, read with 
care and prayer, will emphasize the command and 
reveal the need and incite the prayer for such endue- 
ment of will and power as are essential to swift and 
sustained obedience. 

The number of books written and published on 
Christianity applied to social wellbeing during the 
past forty years, — Dr. J. H. W. Stuckenberg's 
book on "Christian Sociology," was published in 
1880, — is very considerable. Nor is this surprising, 
for so varied and insistent are the needs of society 
that increasing ability in meeting these needs has 
been matched by increasing ability for discovering 
more. By way of suggestion, think of some forms 
of this diversity as expressed in current sociological 
teaching, — teaching of a distinctively constructive 
character, aiming at the elucidation of man's social 
nature, — the place and meaning of religion in social 
service, — the present significance of reason and faith, 
— knowledge and repentance, — regeneration and 
reformation, — in a word, the renewed life. Then 
as corollaries, the enlarged content of the original 
commission of Jesus adapted to modern needs, not 
contrary to but accordant with that original. "Go, 
teach!" and in order that it may be done well, plant 



Prel 



ace 



schools and build colleges; "Go heal!" and that 
your healing ministry prove effective, found hospit- 
als in which the results of finest experimentation in 
costly laboratory may be efficiently utilized. Estab- 
lish settlements, whose successes shall be enhanced 
by the products of institutional churches; — discover 
the essential relation between purity and doctrine, 
righteousness and peace, and then multiply the num- 
ber and extend the influence of societies devoted 
thereto; recognizing the superiority of reason to 
force, brain over brawn, mind above matter, make 
boards of arbitration count more than military staffs, 
and forthright frankness in truth-loving and truth- 
telling statesmanship outweigh the dubious and 
devious processes of discredited secret diplomacy; — 
give new voice to the gospel of help through the 
poetry of love, the poetry and love of I Cor. xiii; 
— the old antithesis of "master and man" be lost in 
the new synthesis of a common partnership, in which 
the capitalist's investment of wealth is equalled by 
the investment of the inventor's brain, the mechan- 
ic's skill, the laborer's brawn; — the rights of wo- 
man; — the effective protection of children; — in a 
word, all that is integral to intelligent obedience to 
the divine mandate, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself," must be realized as comprehended in the 
final commission of Jesus Christ, which, accom- 



Preface 7 

plished as He designed and desires, will bring to the 
world the realization of the angel's song on the day 
of His nativity, "Glory to God in the highest; on 
earth peace; good-will to men." 

This brief summary may suffice to open our eyes 
wide enough to glimpse the extent of Christianity's 
program. And let it be definitely stated here, this 
is "Christianity's program," for the Social Service, 
that is, service for society, that is not Christian is 
foredoomed, so far as permanent results are con- 
cerned. . Nowhere do the words of Christ, "With- 
out Me ye can do nothing," apply with more per- 
tinacity, point and power than here. What now re- 
mains to be said in this prefatory word, is, that the 
present writing has for its distinct objective the 
Spirit of Service, and will concern itself not so much 
with the head, hands and feet, as with the heart of 
the working Church. The variety of work, — the 
diversity of gifts in the workers, — are here all 
subordinated to the will that controls, the purpose 
that grips, the spirit that animates. On this, in the 
writer's judgment, more emphasis is needed than has 
yet been given, and, succeeding in doing that, sat- 
isfaction may be felt in having vindicated the pres- 
ent undertaking, and having made at least a small 
contribution to the common end, — viz. the co-ordi- 
nation of the various agencies looking to the exten- 



8 Preface 

sion and establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
And this, all the more assured, when all, however 
apparently diverse, are imbued with the fine senti- 
ment of Whittier's lines : 

''O Lord and Master of us all. 
Whatever our name or sign. 
We own Thy sway, we hear Thy call, 
We test our lives by Thine!" 

In the life of Christ, that life by which we are 
to test our own, the word "service" is pivotal. The 
Old Testament prophecy of Him as "The Servant" 
was fulfilled absolutely, and His own conscious ad- 
justment to it is apparent all through the New Tes- 
tament, as e. g. "The Son of Man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister." He came not to 
be served, but to serve. "I am among you as one 
that serveth." 

To see Him, therefore, who possessed the Spirit 
"without measure," confessedly the supremest per- 
sonality of human history, — serving, consecrating His 
high spirit to lowly service, bending His lofty person- 
ality to humanity's humblest levels,^to see Him, 
not merely obeying the apostolic injunction implicit 
in the words, "Looking unto Jesus," but rather hear- 
ing His own pleading voice, "Come unto Me, . 



Preface g 

. . take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for 
I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest 
unto your souls," thus to see Him in order to per- 
ceive His spirit and catch the inspiration of His life, 
that is the purpose in this little book to be pursued, 
that the object of our quest. 

Fidelity in our effort will discover manifest in 
Him not merely a spirit for service, but, and in 
growing distinctness as our study progresses, the im- 
portant fact that in order to the right performance 
of smallest tasks, the proper discharge of humblest 
duties. His disciples must needs have high spirit 
and noble personality. For it is not enough that 
these tasks and duties shall be done anyhow, "in any 
old way," they must be done well. The old adage, 
"What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well," 
is but an echo of the scripture, "Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." When 
the "might" of mind, heart, and soul, i. c. thought, 
affection, and life, shall combine under the direction 
of intelligent, conscientious will, then will ensue 
such a doing of the work of Christianity as will inev- 
itably glorify God and benefit man! That is what 
is meant by High Spirit for Lowly Service; Noble 
Personality Devoted to Humble Duties. — ^Whether 
Christ addressed the multitudes, or spoke quietly to 
the Samaritan woman, whether His majestic voice 



lO Preface 

stilled the tempest, or comforted Martha, all ex- 
pressed the same spirit; was comprehended within 
the scope of His glorious utterance, "I have glori- 
fied Thee on the earth; I have finished the work 
Thou gavcst Me to do !" 

May the "mind" that was in Him be also in us. — 
Amen! 



CONTENTS 

Page 

High Spirit for Lowly Service 15 

Faithfulness to Little Duties 29 

The Humility of the Truly Great 52 

Faith Despite Difficulties 70 

Fidelity in Service 91 

The Rewards of Service 104 



THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE 



THE 
SPIRIT OF SERVICE 

HIGH SPIRIT FOR LOWLY SERVICE 

THE theme this book aims to develop is "High 
Spirit for Lowly service." Off-hand you would 
not think so, would you? On the bare statement 
it sounds more than a bit curious, but among the 
many things that are not what they seem, this topic 
must be accorded conspicuous place. Among the 
numerous passages in the Book of books that sug- 
gest it, singular prominence attaches to the remark- 
able story told in John xii:i-i7. "Now before the 
feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that His hour 
was come that He should depart out of this world 
unto the Father, having loved His own that were in 
the world, He loved them unto the end. And dur- 
ing supper, the devil having already put into the 
heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, 
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things 
into His hands, and that He came forth from God, 
and goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth 
aside His garments: and He took a towel, and girded 
himself. Then He poureth water into the basin, and 
began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them 

15 



1 6 The Spirit of Service 

with the towel wherewith He was girded. So He 
Cometh to Simon Peter. He saith unto Him, Lord, 
dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said 
unto him. What I do thou knowest not now; but 
thou shalt understand hereafter. Peter saith unto 
Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus an- 
swered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part 
with Me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not 
my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus 
saith to him. He that is bathed needeth not save to 
wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are 
clean, but not all. For He knew him that should 
betray Him ; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean. 

So when He had washed their feet, and taken His 
garments. He said unto them. Know ye what I have 
done to you? Ye call me. Teacher, and. Lord: 
and ye say well ; for so I am. If I then, the Lord 
and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also 
ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given 
you an example, that ye also should do as I have 
done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, A ser- 
vant is not greater than his Lord; neither one that 
is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know 
these things, blessed are ye if ye do them." (Ameri- 
can Standard Version). 

To the thoughtful student of this notable narra- 
tive, it cannot but seem strange, on the very face 



The Spirit of Service 17 

of it, that this history of the feetwashing should be 
found only in John's gospel; not in either of the 
others. For John, you know, wrote his biography 
of the Master, to emphasize the essential Deity of 
Jesus Christ, and you can scarcely imagine anything 
less compatible with deity than feetwashing; i. e. 
the lowest service rendered by commonest menials 
in the social service of the time of Christ. But here 
it is in this superb gospel, supplemental to, and com- 
plemental of the other gospels, having for its dis- 
tinctive object the proper exaltation of the Son of 
Man, Jesus of Nazareth, as He had been portrayed 
by the synoptists, into the essentially divine Mes- 
siah, the Christ of God, the Eternal Son! 

We shall find our analysis of this heart-searching 
study greatly facilitated by a brief glance at the 
background of this impressive picture. It has a 
background, and of such a character as to enhance 
the wonderfulness of the foreground, as well as fur- 
nishing the key to its interpretation. Luke is the 
artist whose graphic pencil outlines that background. 
You will find it in his gospel, chapter xxii 124-27, 
in his report of the contention about priority that 
occurred among the disciples on their way to Jeru- 
salem that important day in Passion Week. Who 
should have pre-eminence in the coming kingdom? 
That, to them, was a burning question. In it the 



1 8 The Spirit of Service 

consuming ambition of their hearts found expres- 
sion. Modernized it would be: Who shall be the 
recognized leader, prime minister, high lord chan- 
cellor, secretary of state, — in a word, be master? 
In the midst of the unseemly strife, the Master pre- 
eminent, the "Lord and Teacher," introduced Him- 
self and spoke gently, though plainly, to them of the 
principles involved, corrected their wrong ideas and 
probed them with heart-searching questions, and 
then, in the upper room, illustrated His teaching 
by the never-to-be-forgotten lesson of the feetwash- 
ing, in which He showed them how highest spirit 
could harmonize with lowest service, how supreme 
character and humble work could blend in a single 
personality. 

Further help in our task will be secured by a 
brief reference to the passage as a whole. How 
august is the declaration: "Jesus knowing that His 
hour was come that He should depart out of this 
world unto the Father," and "knowing that the 
Father had given all things into His hands, and that 
He came forth from God and goeth to God." And 
all this, mark you, matter of supreme consciousness ; 
His essential deity was fully realized, together with 
all which that implied and involved ; invested indis- 
putably with power, dignity, grandeur, majesty; 
knowing all this and yet, nay rather, and then laying 



The Spirit of Service 19 

aside His garments, He wrapped a towel about His 
waist, took a basin which He filled with water from 
a stone jar, which was part of the furnishing of an 
oriental house, and then, lowly stooping, proceeded 
to wash the feet of His disciples; that is, deity con- 
descending to render lowly service to fishermen and 
tax-gatherers. What a subject it suggests for the 
painter's brush, the sculptor's chisel, the poet's muse, 
the orator's inspiration! Oh it is wonderful past 
comprehension save in the light of His own ex- 
planation ! 

Joseph Parker in a characteristic passage, exposi- 
tory of the text: "For I have given you an ex-' 
ample, that ye should do as I have done to you," 
observes: "To know the full force and value of 
these words we should connect them with the third 
verse of the same chapter, which reads thus : 'Jesus, 
knowing that the Father had given all things into 
His hands, and that He was come from God, and 
went to God.' That is the introduction. It excites 
expectation that amounts to intolerable rapture. 
What will He do now, in this supreme consciousness, 
in this hour of the resurrection before the time, the 
Cross behind, the resurrection past, the whole mean- 
ing of the divine sovereignty in the incarnation of 
Jesus Christ revealed in dazzling, cloudless light? 
Now He will take wing and flee away! He knows 



20 The Spirit of Service 

now who He is, what He is, what God's meaning in 
His incarnation and whole ministry is ; He sees, from 
the human standpoint, the beginning and the end; 
He lays His hands, so to say, on both ends of the 
chain. What will He do in the moment of supreme 
consciousness ? He will show His diadem now ; with 
His right hand He will take away the cloud which 
veiled it, and the shining of that diadem shall put 
out the sun. What will He do in this summer-time? 
We have analogous times in our own consciousness, 
when we feel what we are, when the divinity stirs 
within us, when we feel the blood of a hundred 
kings burning in our veins. What is our wish 
under the pressure of such heroic and tempting con- 
sciousness? Surely to do some great thing; surely 
to vindicate our right to be called by brilliant names. 
What did Jesus Christ do? Mark the time: the 
whole pith of this part of the discourse is in the 
point of time — 'Jesus knowing' — in modern words, 
the consciousness of Jesus urged to its highest point, 
realizing its utmost sensitiveness, receiving into itself 
the full revelation of the divine meaning. 'Jesus 
knowing* — that His right hand was full, and His left 
hand — ^yea, 'that the Father had given all things into 
His hands' — ^what did He do? He arose from sup- 
per, He laid aside His garments. He took a towel 
and girded himself, he poured water into a basin, 



The Spirit of Service 2i 

'and began to wash the disciples' feet.' Surely this 
is madness ; surely the sentence frays out into feeble- 
ness. That is our way of looking at all things. We 
do not know the meaning of what is taking place 
around us; we do not see that the circle is always 
bending, and that things made of God are in circles. 
That is the simple geometry. We cannot tell the 
meaning of condescension in the divine economy; 
we do not see that God is always stooping; we do 
not see that the Infinite is always doing this very 
self-same thing, and that the suspension of such ser- 
vice would mean the ruin of all finite things. That 
is what God is doing; He is always washing the 
feet of angels and men, and the whole universe. 
God is love ; love lives to serve ; love does not want 
to sit in stately ease, — sweet angel ! she is only happy 
when she is busy and cumbered about many things." 
Follow that striking characterization with a se- 
ries of pointed questions by the great Unitarian di- 
vine, William Ellery Channing, which occur in a 
luminous portrayal of the * 'Character of Christ," 
in an exposition of the text: "This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased," and see how the 
same general idea incites to wondering surprise 
and tends to affectionate worship. Prefacing these 
questions permit the quotation of some of the strik- 
ing sentences Dr. Channing used in leading up to 



22 The Spirit of Service 

them. *'I began with observing how our long fa- 
miliarity with Jesus blunts our minds to His singu- 
lar excellence. We probably have often read of the 
character which He claimed, without a thought of 
its extraordinary nature. But I know nothing so 
sublime. The plans and labors of statesmen sink 
into the sports of children when compared with the 
work Jesus announced, and to which He devoted 
Himself in life and death with a thorough conscious- 
ness of its reality. The idea of changing the moral 
aspect of the whole earth, of recovering all nations 
to the pure and inward worship of one God, and to 
a spirit of divine and fraternal love, was one of 
which we meet not a trace in philosopher or legis- 
lator before Him. The human mind had given no 
promise of this extent of view. The conception of 
this enterprise, and the calm, unshaken expectation 
of success in one who had no station and no wealth, 
who cast from Him the sword vrith abhorrence, and 
who forbade His disciples to use any weapons but 
those of love, discover a wonderful trust in the pow- 
er of God and the power of love ; and when to this 
we add that Jesus looked not only to the triumph of 
His pure faith in the present world, but to a 
mighty and beneficent power in Heaven, we witness 
a vastness of purpose, a grandeur of thought and 
feeling so original, so superior to the workings of 



The Spirit of Service 23 

all other minds, that nothing but our familiarity can 
prevent our contemplation of it with wonder and 
profound awe. I confess, when I can escape the 
deadening power of habit, and can receive the full 
import of such passages as the following: — 'Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest,' — *I am come to seek and to 
save that which was lost,' — 'He that confesseth 
me before men, him will I confess before my Father 
in Heaven,' — 'Whosoever shall be ashamed of me 
before men, of him shall the Son of Man be 
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of the Fath- 
er with the holy angels,' — 'In my Father's house 
are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for 
you;' — I say, when I can succeed in realizing the 
import of such passages, I feel myself listening to a 
being, such as never before and never since spoke 
in human language. I am awed by the conscious- 
ness of greatness which these simple words express; 
and when I connect this greatness with the proofs 
of Christ's miracles. ... I am compelled to 
exclaim with the centurion, 'Truly, this w^as the 
Son of God.' " 

Continuing, the great preacher said: "I have 
thus, my friends, set before you one view of Jesus 
Christ, which shows Him to have been the most ex- 
traordinary being who ever lived. I invite your at- 



24 The Spirit of Service 

tention to another, and I am not sure but that it is 
still more striking. You have seen the conscious- 
ness of greatness which Jesus possessed; I now ask 
you to consider how, with this consciousness. He liv- 
ed among men. To convey my meaning more dis- 
tinctly, let me avail myself of an imaginary case. 
Suppose you had never heard the particulars of 
Christ's history, but were told in general that, ages 
ago, an extraordinary man appeared in the world, 
whose mind was wholly possessed with the idea of 
having come from God, who regarded himself as 
clothed with divine power, and charged with the 
sublimest work in the universe, who had the con- 
sciousness of sustaining a relation of unexampled 
authority and beneficence, not to one nation or age, 
but to all nations and all times, and who anticipated 
a spiritual kingdom and everlasting power beyond 
the grave. Suppose you should be told that, on 
entering the world, he found not one mind able to 
comprehend his views, and felt himself immeasur- 
ably exalted in thought and purpose above all around 
him, and suppose you should then be asked what ap- 
pearance, what mode of life, what tone, what air, what 
deportment, what intercourse with the multitude 
seemed to you to suit such a character, and were 
probably adopted by him; how would you repre- 
sent him to your minds? Would you not suppose 



The Spirit of Service 25 

that, with this peculiar character, he adopted some 
peculiar mode of life, expressive of his superiority 
to, and separation from all other men? Would 
you not expect something distinctive in his appear- 
ance? Would you not expect him to assume some 
badge, and to exact some homage? Would you not 
expect that, with a mind revolving such vast 
thoughts, and raised above the earth, he would look 
coldly on the gratification of men? That, with a 
mind spreading itself over the world, and meditating 
its subjection to his truth, he would take little in- 
terest in ordinary individuals ? And that possessing, 
in his own doctrine, and character, a standard of 
sublime virtue, he would attach little importance to 
the low attainments of the ignorant and super- 
stitious around him? Would you not make him a 
public character, and expect to see him laboring to 
establish his ascendancy among public men ? Would 
you not expect to see his natural affection absorbed 
in his universal philanthropy; and would not pri- 
vate attachments seem to you quite inconsistent with 
his vast superiority and the immensity of his pur- 
poses? Would you not expect him to avail himself 
of the best accommodations the world could afford? 
Would you not expect the great Teacher to select 
the most sacred spots for his teaching, and the Lord 
of all to erect some conspicuous seat from which 



26 The Spirit of Service 

should go forth the laws which were to reach tht 
ends of the earth ? Would you not, in a word, ex- 
pect this extraordinary personage to surround him- 
self with extraordinary circumstances, and to main- 
tain a separation from the degraded multitude 
around him? 

Such, I believe, would be the expectation of us 
all; and what was the case with Jesus? Read His 
history. He comes with the consciousness of more 
than human greatness, to accomplish an infinite 
work, and where do you find Him? What is His 
look? What His manner? How does He converse, 
how live with men? His appearance, mode of life 
and intercourse are directly the reverse of what we 
should have supposed. He comes in the ordinary 
dress of the class of society in which He had grown 
up. He retreats to no solitude, like John, to strike 
awe, nor seeks any spot which had been consecrated 
in Jewish history. Would you find Him? Go to 
the house of Peter, the fisherman. Go to the well 
of Samaria, where He rests after the fatigues of His 
journey. Would you hear Him teach? You may 
find Him, indeed, sometimes in the temple, for that 
was a place of general resort; but commonly you 
may find Him instructing in the open air, now from 
a boat on the Galilean lake, now on a mount, and 
now in the streets of the crowded city. He has 



The Spirit of Service 27 

no place wherein to lay His head, nor will He have 
one. A rich ruler comes and falls at His feet. He 
says, 'Go, sell what thou hast and give to the poor, 
and then come and follow Me.' Nor was this all. 
Something more striking remains to be told. He 
did not merely live in the streets and in the houses 
of fishermen. In these places, had He pleased, He 
might have cleared a space around Him, and raised 
a barrier between Himself and others. But in these 
places and everywhere, He lived with men as a 
man, a brother, a friend, sometimes a servant; and 
entered, with a deep, unexampled sympathy, into 
the feelings, interests, wants, sorrows of individuals, 
of ordinary men, and even of the most depressed, 
despised, and forsaken of the race. Here is the 
most striking view of Jesus. This combination of 
the spirit of humanity, in its lowliest, tenderest 
form, with the consciousness of unrivalled and di- 
vine glories, is the most wonderful distinction of this 
wonderful character." 

And in all the thrilling story of His matchless 
life there is no single passage so pregnant of sug- 
gestion touching this blending of sublimity and 
humility, this commingling of divinity and humanity, 
as the narrative we are now studying. He who 
knew that He was from God, was returning to 
God, that God had put all things, authority, domin- 



28 The Spirit of Service 

ion, power, in Heaven and on earth into His 
hands; knowing this and yet stooping to the menial 
task of bathing the travel-stained feet of His con- 
tentious followers. What a spectacle for men! 
A scene, surely, into which even angels would desire 
to look; an abyss of condescension past sound- 
ing by any plummet of unaided human reason. Sure- 
ly nothing less than His own Spirit can suffice to 
reveal to us the content of this otherwise immeas^ 
urable self-abasement. Oh, Spirit of Jesus, come 
to our help in order to the successful outworking of 
our undertaking; yea do Thou, by Thy sweet min- 
istry, 

"Enable with perpetual light 
The dullness of our blinded sight," 

and teach us to realize all that the great apostle 
suggests in words Thyself inspired: "But we all, 
with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory 
of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from 
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 



FAITHFULNESS TO LITTLE DUTIES 

GREAT is the necessity for modern Christians to 
master this great subject : High spirit for Lowly 
Service ; the need for loftiest inspiration in order to 
the right performance of the humblest tasks ; the 
fact that simple service is not incompatible with 
true dignity, or finest personality above the plane 
of useful commonplace. Speaking broadly, it may 
readily be admitted that there seems in this putting 
of the matter, a total inversion of the proper order ; 
and pardon might readily be granted an earnest de- 
murrer to the proposition, one w^hose feelings com- 
mand readier obedience than reason wins assent. 
Such an one might easily object: "High spirit for 
lowly servcie! No, indeed! High spirit is de- 
manded for high service, for lowly service any old 
spirit will do!" And there are multitudes who 
would insist that in order to the performance of 
one's very best effort there must needs be very great 
occasion. I recall an interesting circumstance that 
may illustrate this. It was during the session of 
the annual meeting of the Primitive Methodist Con- 
nexion at Hazleton, Pa., many years ago. Among 
the services scheduled for the Lord's Day of the 
gathering, was a mass meeting of the Young Men's 
29 



30 The Spirit of Service 

Christian Association. The speaker was the Rev. 
Dr.W.B. Affleck, called the "Mark Twain and John 
B. Gough of Primitive Methodism." In his ad- 
dress he observed that not a few young men feel that 
they cannot do their best unless they enjoy the in- 
spiration of a large audience, a notable occasion. 
Said the preacher: "I comfort myself when com- 
pelled to appear before small audiences, or preach to 
small congregations, by remembering that many of 
the most eloquent deliverances of men have been 
made to small companies. Especially notable was 
that the case in the life of the Lord Christ, several 
of whose most remarkable addresses were spoken in 
the hearing of but few persons. Indeed, one of His 
profoundest revelations was to an audience of one, 
at Jacob's Well in Samaria, but," and I wish I could 
reproduce the expression of the speaker's face and 
the tones of his voice as he added: "But that one 
was a woman, and the Lord knew that at the first 
opportunity she would tell all she had heard!" 

The witticism apart, there is a good moral in the 
incident, viz., our best is justified at all times; and 
by so much as what is said is repeated the audience 
is enlarged, and fresh warrant is afforded for the 
old injunction: "Sow beside all waters." Very 
sweet, indeed eloquent, are the words of the hymn 
comment on that statement: 



The Spirit of Service 31 

"Sow in the morn thy seed ; 

At eve hold not thy hand ; 
To doubt and fear give thou no heed, 
Broad-cast it o'er the land. 

Thou knowest not which shall thrive, 

The late or early sown ; 
Grace keeps the precious germ alive, 

When and wherever strown: 

And duly shall appear, 

In verdure, beauty, strength, 
The tender blade, the stalk, the ear, 

And the full corn at length. 

Thou canst not toil in vain; 

Cold, heat, and moist, and dry, 
Shall foster and mature the grain 

For garners in the sky. 

Thence, when the glorious end. 

The day of God, shall come, 
The angel reapers shall descend, 

And heaven shout, 'Harvest-home!' 

Had James Montgomery enriched the devotional 
literature of the world with no other composition 
than this hymn, we should not willingly let his name 
die. Still there are many who insist that great occa- 
sions are necessary to elicit our best endeavors, so 
many, indeed, as to suggest that we may regard it as 
the obvious fact. However, let us premise that after 
we have carefully analyzed the topic of this study, 



32 The Spirit of Service 

we shall find ample warrant for the reiteration of 
the truth that our very best efforts are required 
in order to the right performance of life's simple 
duties, the commonplaces of every day. Yes, it 
seems almost like a paradox ; but we must not stag- 
ger at paradoxes. The Bible is full of them. If 
paradoxes perplex, or difficulties daunt us to the 
point of abandonment, some of the most precious 
riches of the divine word will escape us. But while 
many of the passages of Scripture are paradoxical 
so far as mere human reason goes, yet are they to the 
heart of faith susceptible of demonstration as soul- 
satisfying truths. - Take, for example, "At eve it 
shall be light." Cold reason would say to that: 
"How absurd! Everybody knows that at eve it 
shall be dark. Just as eve follows sunset, so does 
night and darkness follow eve." But faith, reading 
between the lines, interpreting the passage from 
another standpoint, anticipates the truth and with 
the apostle triumphantly exclaims: "The night is 
far spent, the day is at hand." The lines of Keble 
are more than mere poetry: 

"Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear, 
It is not night if thou be near." 

And Isaac Watts is equally suggestive when he 
sings : 



The Spirit of Service 33 

"My God, the spring of all my joys, 

The life of my delights, 
The glory of my brightest days, 
And comforts of my nights. 

In darkest shades, if Thou appear, 

My dawning is begun; 
Thou art my soul's bright morning-star, 

And Thou my rising sun." 

Another glaring paradox, according to cold rea- 
son is, "When I am weak, then am I strong." But 
faith reads it otherwise: When I realize my in- 
competence to meet and overcome the world, the 
flesh, and the devil, in my own strength, then will I 
depend upon the grace that is all-sufficient. "What 
time I am afraid I will trust in thee," because "they 
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion 
which shall not be removed, but abideth forever." 
"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool," but 
"They that trust in the Lord shall never be con- 
founded." 

In some such class of seeming paradox we must 
put the Master's words in illustrating this theme. 
It will be found helpful to put in consecutive order 
the reports of the synoptists on this interesting inci- 
dent. Matthew's report, (xx:20-28) in verse 26-7 
is: "Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever 
would become great among you shall be your min- 



34 The Spirit of Service 

ister; and whosoever would be first among you 
shall be your servant:" 

Mark in ch. x 135-45 reports the point thus: 
"But it is not so among you: but whosoever would 
become great among you, shall be your minister; 
and whosoever would be first among you, shall be 
servant of all." And Luke emphasizes it thus: 
(xxii:24-3o) "But ye shall not be so; but he that 
is the greater among you, let him be as the younger ; 
and he that is chief, as he that doth serve." 

There was another time, according to Mark 
and Luke, when a similar contention took place, in 
connection with which the Master took pains to 
state the same principle. At that time the Lord 
used a little child to illustrate the truth, and said: 
(Mark ix:33-37) "I^ ^^Y ^^^^ would be first, he 
shall be last of all, and servant of all." And Luke: 
(ix:46-48) "For he that is least among you all, the 
same is great." 

Then there is something paradoxical about the as- 
sertion: "One shall chase a thousand, but two 
shall put ten thousand to flight." Reason would 
say: "If one can chase a thousand, two can chase 
two thousand; but ten thousand? That's absurd!" 
Faith, on the other hand, realizing the inspiration of 
union, not so much with each other as with God, 
recalling Gideon's band of 300 and, even more nota- 



I 



The Spirit of Service 35 

ble, Jonathan and his armor-bearer; hearing "the 
sound of a gong in the tops of the mulberry trees," 
flings its banner to the breeze — bearing the inscrip- 
tion "Jehovah-nissi" (the Lord our banner), in His 
name and by His might, assaults the mighty hosts 
and witnesses their flight. These paradoxes, like 
the parables, are calculated to stimulate thought and 
constitute a strong challenge to faith. The last one 
quoted, "One shall chase a thousand, and two shall 
put ten thousand to flight," is suggestive of conflict, 
warfare, the military life, and this may afford us a 
helpful illustration. 

Institute a comparison between soldiers rushing 
gallantly, pressing on in a furious charge, or stub- 
bornly defending their position in the face of a 
charge by the enemy, and other soldiers engaged in 
digging trenches, throwing up breastworks, plant- 
ing mines, building roads, driving baggage-wagons, 
looking after the commissary, and so on, and is it 
not true that these latter suffer in the comparison 
with the former? How prosy and commonplace 
seem the pick and shovel, axe, drill, driving-rein 
and whip, coffee pot and doughtray, when con- 
trasted with flag, bugle, bayonet, sabre, sword, 
musket, pistol, rifle, cannon? Ah, these weapons 
are the glorious instruments for achieving victory, 
but those humdrum tools are for inconspicuous ser- 



36 The Spirit of Service 

vice! So it seems, but who that knows what the 
conduct of a campaign implies and involves, does 
not also know that upon the faithful employment 
of these self-same humdrum tools not a little of the 
possibility of enthusiastic and efficient use of those 
glorious instruments for achieving victory depends. 
Ay, the soldier's success depends upon one as much 
as the other; indeed, in not a few important partic- 
ulars these lower occupations are absolutely funda- 
mental, for only as they have been well attended 
to can the others be satisfactorily prosecuted. Here 
is place for the application of the Master's words: 
* 'Judge not according to appearance, but judge 
righteous judgment." So, too, the old adage is 
apropos, "Appearances are deceitful." The thrills 
incident to charge and defense must not lead to 
harsh discrimination against the inconspicuous, quiet, 
toilsome drudgery of preparation and sustenance. As 
to the spirit exhibited relatively by fighters and 
workers, it is well worth our while to inquire. 
Whether in charge, or defense, when the heart is a 
veritable furnace of patriotism, and the red blood 
flows hot through the veins, every corpuscle in mo- 
tion and the pulses keeping time to the drum-beat 
of enthusiasm, it is small wonder that men attempt 
great things, dare their enemies, defy death and 
achieve renown. Why all the circumstances con- 



The Spirit of Service 37 

spire to encourage bravery and inflame zeal. Think 
of it! There's the sound of martial music, the 
sight of the waving banner, the looks and words of 
the commanders, the enthusiasm of numbers, the 
sight of the enemy, the thrill of the charge, the 
shout of the battle, the inspiration of hope, and 
above all the deep love of country, home and dear 
ones ; why, not to be brave and daring with all this 
would be ineradicable disgrace. Think now of the 
others: what a different environment is theirs; 
chopping trees in the gloom of the quiet forest ; dig- 
ging away in the earth to provide a trench; bur- 
rowing in the ground like moles for the placing 
of subterranean mines ; hauling logs ; squaring tim- 
bers; building corduroy roads; driving baggage- 
wagons ; cooking common food while the eyes water 
in stinging smoke; or laying back in the deadening 
inaction of reserves; but keeping steadily on, doing 
such work, inconspicuous, humbly commonplace, 
and patiently awaiting the command to march, who 
cannot see that all this requires a patriotism, rooted 
and grounded in intelligent devotion, not only not 
less but equally great, if not, indeed, even greater 
than the others? 

And the sober judgment of history corroborates 
the correctness of this conclusion. Once, in the 
olden times, when a successful campaign had been 



38 The Spirit of Service 

waged and brought to a triumphant issue, and the 
captured treasure was to be divided, trouble arose 
as to the distribution. Those who had fought ar- 
gued that they should receive a larger proportion 
than those who had been left behind attending to 
other duties. But no; David, the commander, 
said, "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, 
so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff. Both 
shall share alike." And such a conception is surely 
implicit in that immortal line of the great Milton, 
"They also serve who only stand and wait." After 
all it is not so much what we do as why; not so 
much where we work as how; our motive deter- 
mines our character, and the spirit we exhibit is of 
greater significance than the position we fill. 

This lesson from the military service we can take 
into life in general. In doing the world's work, in 
meeting the requirements of the Church, requisition 
is made of men of all varieties of endowment; the 
one talent man is as indispensable as the five talent 
man. And it is worth noting that these are both 
extremes, those of less than average ability about 
equal those of more than average ability; the two 
talent folks serving to establish the average. All 
are needed; none can well be dispensed with. In 
order to the right accomplishment of the work what 
is required of each, irrespective of endowment, is 
that he be faithful. However differing in the num- 



The Spirit of Service 39 

ber of talents, all may be alike in the supreme mat- 
ter of fidelity. Of course there are varieties, grades 
if you please, of work; some seem to be prominent 
and honorable; others are so humble and obscure 
as to provoke scarcely a thought; but you may be 
sure that there is as much love and devotion de- 
manded of those who would do well the quiet 
drudgery as of those who lead in the conspicuous 
activities. 

Restricting our thought to the work of the church, 
it may be definitely asserted that the faithful per- 
formance of life's daily tasks in the spirit of Chris- 
tian love, keeping sweet amid the wearisome grind 
of tedious commonplace, often does more to exalt 
the Christ and invest religion with distinctive and, 
therefore, attractive charm, than many a brilliant 
sermon, thrilling song, fervent prayer, or ring- 
ing testimony. And it is not hard to discover why. 
Indeed, a similar analysis as we indulged relative to 
the military life will result in a similar discovery 
here. The preacher, singer, leader in public prayer, 
witness-bearer in experience meeting, all have the 
inspiration of circumstance, plus admiration and the 
possibility of praise. So it is not surprising that 
the preacher, catching fresh inspiration from the 
rapt attention, perchance ringing applause of his 
auditors, swings on and up to new altitudes of 



40 The Spirit of Service 

eloquence ; the soloist, seeing the effect of the skill- 
ful rendition of fine sentiment wedded to sweet 
melody in eager interest and manifest appreciation, 
is incited to new effort and achieves new success; 
the leader in prayer, hearing fervent responses on the 
part of those whose devotions he leads, feels the 
thrill of sj^mpathetic participation and with unusual 
power offers "the fervent effectual prayer;" the 
witness-bearer in an experience meeting, whose tes- 
timony to the saving and keeping power of the grace 
of Christ awakens corroborative evidence on the 
part of those who hear, finds his zeal inflamed, and 
earnestness increased, and new energy is displayed. 
Thus circumstance helps those who figure in what 
we call the more conspicuous activities, and effici- 
ency, or proficiency, does not always afford an in- 
fallable criterion of spiritual life, or even of super- 
lative moral quality. But, on the other hand, quiet- 
ly to read the Bible every day; faithfully to meet 
the obligations of the closet; persistently saying 
"NO" to temptation and "YES" to duty; keeping 
the light, e'en though it be one of "the lower lights," 
burning ; visiting the sick ; cheering the distressed ; 
administering comfort to the bereaved; ready with 
the "cup of cold water" and careful to "feed the 
lambs;" patiently keeping on, notwithstanding that 
the simple service is not noticed, never talked about. 



The Spirit of Service 41 

will not furnish material for a newspaper eulogy or 
orator's peroration, requires and evidences a truer 
devotion, a sublimer quality. True life is as much 
required by the modest violet in order to its humble 
blossoming, as by the obtrusively conspicuous sun- 
flower; and its gentle ministry really glorifies the 
Creator as fully and finely as does that of its larger 
neighbor. 

Sweet are the words of Waring: 

"The heart that ministers for Thee 

In Thy own work will rest; 
And the subject spirit of a child 
Can serve Thy children best." 

And the sentiment of H. E. Manning so accords 
with this reasoning as to deserve quotation here. 
"It matters not where we are or what we are, so we 
be His servants. They are happy who have a wide 
field and great strength to fulfill His missions of 
compassion; and they, too, are blessed who, in shel- 
tered homes and narrow ways of duty, wait upon 
Him in lowly services of love. Wise or simple, 
gifted or slender in knowledge, in the world's gaze 
or in hidden paths, high or low, encompassed by 
affection and joys of home, or lonely and content in 
God alone, what matters, so that they bear the 
seal of the living God ? Blessed company, unknown 



42 The Spirit of Service 

to each other, unknowing even themselves!" 

It was a very suggestive remark that a young 
woman made to her friend in answer to the ques- 
tion: "By whose preaching were you brought to 
Christ?" "By nobody's preaching, dear; but just 
by Aunt Mary's practising." Of such an one 
Lowell must have been thinking when he wrote; 

"She doeth little kindnesses, 

Which most leave undone or despise; 
For nought which sets one heart at ease, 
Is low-esteemed in her eyes." 

And the brilliant pen of F. W. Robertson found 
fitting employment when he wrote: "What was 
the secret of such a one's power? What had she 
done? Absolutely nothing; but radiant smiles, 
beaming good-humour; the tact of divining what 
every one felt and every one wanted, told that she 
had got out of self and learned to think of oth- 
ers ; so that at one time it showed itself in deprecat- 
ing the quarrel, which lowering brows and' raised 
tones already showed to be impending, by sweet 
words ; at another, by smoothing an invalid's pillow ; 
at another, by soothing a sobbing child ; at another, 
by humoring and softening a father who had re- 
turned weary and ill-tempered from the irritating 
cares of business. None but she saw those things. 



The Spirit of Service 43 

None but a loving heart could see them. That was 
the secret of her heavenly power. The one who 
will be found on trial capable of great acts of love, 
is ever the one who is always doing considerate small 
ones." So let it be repeated that there is as much 
love and devotion required of those who do the 
quiet drudgery, faithfully attending to the little 
things, the obscure duties, as of those who lead 
in the conspicuous activities. None too strong are 
the words of John Henry Newman. "One secret 
act of self-denial, one sacrifice of inclination to duty, is 
worth all the mere good thought, warm feelings, 
passionate prayers, in which idle people indulge 
themselves." And this additional bit from Robert- 
son is eloquent: ''The worst part of martyrdom is 
not the last agonizing moment; it is the wearing, 
daily steadfastness. Men who can make up their 
minds to hold out against the torture of an hour 
have sunk under the weariness and the harass of 
small, prolonged vexations. There is many a 
Christian who feels the irksomeness of the duties of 
life, and feels his spirit revolting from them. To get 
up every morning with the firm resolve to find pleas- 
ure in those duties, and to do them well, and finish 
the work which God has given us to do, that is to 
drink Christ's cup. The humblest occupation has 
in it materials of discipline for the highest heaven." 



44 The Spirit of Service 

It is thus, in the light of such truth, that we come 
to understand the emphasis the Lord Christ placed 
upon the staying rather than the brilliant qualities 
in human character. Hear Him: "He that endur- 
eth unto the end shall be saved." That is a big 
word, "ENDURETH." The prize is not won 
by the mere sprinter in a race, however dashing his 
pace or excellent his form, but by the runner whose 
powers of lung and leg, trained by faithful exer- 
cise, can endure the strain, keep up the pace and 
win the goal. The truth of the seeming paradox in 
Eccl. ix:ii, "the race is not to the swift, nor the 
battle to the strong," has been often verified; the 
secret of success is in endurance. It was such a 
thought Isaiah sought to impress in that famous 
passage: "They that wait upon the Lord shall re- 
new their strength, they shall mount up on wings 
as eagles, they shall run and not weary, they shall 
walk and not faint." "How absurd," exclaims cold 
reason; "that's simple anti-climax. It should read 
— -'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength; they shall walk and not faint, they shall 
run and not weary, they shall mount up on wings as 
eagles.' There, that's climax!" And Isaiah would 
smile and quietly retort: "That is nonesense." No, 
it was not anti-climax as Isaiah put it. Rather, sober 
truth and fine climax ; for, as a matt^t oX fact, ther^ 



The Spirit of Service 45 

is not much soaring to be done by mortals, otherwise 
we had been furnished with wings; neither is there 
much running to be done in the fair course of hu- 
man life, or lungs had been invested with greater 
capacity; but that which constitutes the staple of 
every-day's experience is walking uprightly, and to 
maintain that, day by day, day after day, week in 
and week out, month in and month out, year in 
and year out, requires the finest spirit and taxes the 
noblest personality far beyond the occasional spurt, 
or the rarer flight. To be sure there is a great 
contrast between the soaring of an eagle and the 
crawling of a snail. There is a great difference be- 
tween the ecstacy of the chosen disciples, Peter, 
James and John, on Mount Hermon witnessing the 
splendors of the Transfiguration of their Lord, and 
exclaiming: "Master it is good for us to be here;" 
and the experience of the defeat of their weak-faith 
brethren on the plain, in their failure to exorcise the 
evil spirit from the possessed boy. Right understood, 
the rare flight of the soul, buoyed up on the 
pinions of faith and hope in the seldom experiences 
of high aspiration, is calculated to steady the life 
when compelled to patiently plod over weary path- 
ways for weary years. The purpose of the moun- 
tain exaltation is to qualify for the exacting duties 
of the plain ; the former as seldom and brief as the 



46 The Spirit of Service 

latter are frequent and protracted. Say, does life 
present a grimmer irony than that furnished by the 
man who boastfully imagines he can "sweep o'er 
the clouds, but sinks amid the clods." 

Oh better far "wait on the Lord," and so learn 
to sing with Vaughan: 

"Lord, with what courage and delight 

I do each thing, 
When Thy last breath sustains my wing! 

I shine and move 

Like those above. 

And, with much gladness 

Quitting sadness 
Make me fair days of every night." 

Ay, 'tis, a great conception of life and its duties 
that here insistently demands recognition. To do 
faithfully, unmurmuringly, patiently, cheerfully, 
steadily, perseveringly, every day, the little duties, 
the small services of life, requires, in the last an- 
alysis, a deeper love, a stronger faith, a finer cour- 
age, a sublimer devotion, than often finds expres- 
sion in many a more conspicuous triumph, which 
will appear, upon careful examination, more the re- 
sult of favoring circumstances than of inherent re- 
ligious quality. And it is worthy of note that both 
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament 
are to be found corroborative illustrations. From 



The Spirit of Service 47 

the former take this: "Whatsoever thy hand find- 
eth to do, do it with thy might." From the latter: 
"He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful 
also in much. And he that is not faithful in that 
which is least, is unfaithful also in much." 

It will need no argument to prove that the person 
who will do with his might whatever comes to hand, 
who will exhibit utmost faithfulness in the least re- 
quirement as in greatest requirement, must possess 
a fine personality. Such are rare enough to com- 
mand admiration and justify study. Strong reason 
exists for special treatment of this, for it is 
easily discoverable that close relationship exists be- 
tween fine personality and fidelity in obscure posi- 
tions, unswerving devotion in trifling duties. Let 
us recall the Master's words: "He that will be 
great among you shall be your minister." Minister 
is a fine way of spelling s-e-r-v-a-n-t. "And he that 
will be chief among you shall be your servant." 
Paul gives us his conception of the word "servant" 
when he spells it s-1-a-v-e. How remarkable now 
that the Master should add : "I am among you as 
He that serveth." 

It is not easy to reconcile the differences con- 
fessedly existing between Jesus and His disciples and 
the ultra sentiment so positively expressed in the 
words quoted. And, mark you, not merely expressed 



48 The Spirit of Service 

in words but illustrated in act. Not theory merely, 
but practice as well; nay, practice even more. Nor 
only in this matter of the feet-washing. A compre- 
hensive survey of the life of Christ will reveal that 
notwithstanding the varied and often extremely 
humble character of it, it was ever exalted by His 
personality into the essentially sublime. We shall 
gain much in real wisdom when we come to invert 
the too common acceptation of the thought that 
place determines character, or that work indexes 
worth. Not so ; it is rather the man that makes the 
place; the workman is forever greater than the 
work; personality must always eclipse position. No 
place will long support the unfit man; the fit man 
will make the lowliest place distinguished. 

Of the distinguished character of Christ's person- 
ality there can be absolutely no doubt. How assur- 
ing the words we have already quoted : "Jesus know- 
ing that the Father had given all things into His 
hands, and that He came forth from God, and goeth 
to God." How fraught with suggestions of majesty, 
glory, power and wisdom these august words are! 
How exalted the personality of Him of whom they 
are true! As this distinction peculiar to Him explains 
the enhancement of simple tasks with inherent dig- 
nity, so may it illustrate to our minds the reason for 
those wonderful words, "The prince of this world 



The Spirit of Service 49 

Cometh and hath nothing in Me." And in their turn 
these words serve to explain the ground of His final 
challenge to His critics, "Which of you convicteth 
Me of sin?" Such a personality is well worth our 
profoundest study. This is to be emphasized be- 
cause Jesus Christ is our exemplar; His life the pat- 
tern after which our own is to be ordered. 

Now this would be not only absurd, but provok- 
ingly tantalizing, were there not in us that which 
really assimilates us to Him. Ay, keep it ever in 
mind, in you there inheres the possibility of fine per- 
sonality, for of you are the words also true, "came 
forth from God; goeth to God." Ay, in the true, 
deep sense, these words embody a truth as fairly 
predicable of you as of Him, one of whose endearing 
names is "Elder Brother." Such a conclusion is 
easily deducible from the way the Master Himself 
bids us address God in what we know as the "Lord's 
Prayer." Said He, "When ye pray, say Our Fath- 
er." And very soon after He had washed the feet of 
His disciples, and love's redeeming work had been 
accomplished by His death, on the morning of His 
resurrection He said to Mary: "Go unto My breth- 
ren, and say unto them, I ascend to My Father and 
your Father, and My God and your God." What an 
answer these words of Christ give to the prophet's 
question: "Have we not all one Father? Hath not 



50 The Spirit of Service 

one God created us?" So, too, the universality of 
the conception is no mean evidence of its truth, and 
that, it seems, was the point in the quotation with 
which Paul enriched his address that day on Mars' 
Hill in Athens, when arguing with the philosophers 
of that capital, he said, "as certain even of your 
own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring'." 
Ay, say it over and over — ^We are of God, from 
Him, and if we do not allow sin to frustrate the 
plans of His grace we shall assuredly go to Him. 
Our origin is divine; our destiny likewise is divine; 
therefore the very highest dignity attaches to man as 
compared with the world in which he lives. This 
inspiring conclusion may also be readily inferred 
from the narrative of creation. Of the material 
universe, with all its wealth of wonder and beauty, 
it is true that "God spake and it was done ; He com- 
manded and it stood fast." The utterance of the 
creative fiat, "Let there be" was productive of all 
the sublimities of earth, and sea, and sky. But when 
man's creation was in contemplation, note the change 
in the statement, "Let us make man in our image, 
after our likeness. And God created man in His 
own image, in the image of God created He him." 
And in another passage it is written, "And Jehovah 
God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and 



The Spirit of Service 51 

man became a living soul." If the poet, contemplat- 
ing the mystery and beauty of plant life, could in 
fine phrase exclaim: 

"Scarcely concealing. 
Scarcely revealing, 

Being's sweet mystery. 

Smiles from the sod ; 
While on each leaf, 
Is written this brief 

But beautiful history, 

We are of God," 

much more may we, — 

"We for whose sake all nature stands 

And stars their courses move; 
We for whose guard the angel bands 
Come flying from above," 

exclaim "We are of God!" This being so, ought we 
not to meet the requirements of our life, however 
environed it may be, in the same spirit as our Mas- 
ter? His was truly high spirit. His was indisputably 
majestic personality, yet He could stoop to the per- 
formance of lowest tasks, could render humblest 
service. 



THE HUMILITY OF THE TRULY GREAT. 

WE can well afford to pause here a little while 
and scan a bit further the almost startling de- 
velopment of the thought of our discovery in Christ's 
life and conduct the pattern of our own since, like 
Him we, too, are from God. It is surely not a travesty 
on science, (true science) to say that here we get a 
glimpse of the true theory of evolution. Oh how 
large that word has bulked in modern literature, and 
what unwarranted things have been said and writ- 
ten touching man's origin ! Waiving more than this 
passing allusion, in view of the fact that materialis- 
tic science has thus far failed in its efforts to furn- 
ish a single incontestable evidence in demonstrated 
fact of the correctness of its theory, let us "hold fast 
the profession of our faith without wavering," that 
we are of God, and conforming our lives to His 
will shall find our destiny with Him in the kingdom 
eternal. Subjected as we are, in this world, to many 
unkindly influences, it may easily be that, slipping 
this cable and separated from this anchorage, we 
grow dejected and entertain unworthy views of 
ourselves and others. In such circumstances we may 
look down upon ourselves, upon others; deplore our 
humble ancestry and resent our obscure origin, and 
52 



The Spirit of Service 53 

in the presence of the boastful scions of nobility, not 
to say royalty, cringe in despicable subservience, 
seeming more like dogs who lick the hands of their 
masters than men and women of higher than noble 
or royal birth. So it is not mere tautology to reiter- 
ate "We are from God !" That high conception will 
serve to keep us from thinking meanly of ourselves 
or of others, and will invest with blessed meaning 
the words of Paul, "Walk worthy of the vocation 
wherewith ye are called." Let us sing often to our- 
selves : 

"Children of God! Oh glorious calling; 
Surely his grace will keep us from falling." 

and, if tempted to doubt, add 

Oh take heart and sing, 

Of this I am sure, 

Vm a child of the King! 

The gospel of Christ not only indicates the divin- 
ity of our origin and sets the bounds of the family of 
God, but it is also the Magna Charta of the race 
in which are to be found the principles of true de- 
mocracy, genuine socialism. Much that today poses 
as democracy and socialism is grossly miscalled. The 
distinction between the false and the true is best 
seen in the light of the fundamental principles set 



54 The Spirit of Service 

forth in the gospel, of which the "Fatherhood of 
God" and the "Brotherhood of man" are twin doc- 
trines. Only as these doctrines, plus the principles 
of the gospel, are incorporated in these modern 
movements which aim at the amelioration of condi- 
tions under which so many of the race today help- 
lessly groan, can we ever realize the ideal society. Of 
that ideal, the word "solidarity," comprehending the 
rich content of the word "altruism," may be re- 
garded as expressive, if not indeed descriptive. And 
this, while recognizing as inevitable the necessity of 
variety in service and divergence in capacity, will 
yet hold true to the essential unity of the body in its 
entirety. Whether, accommodating ourselves to the 
usual forms of distinction, we be high or low, all 
will yet aim at "the unity of the spirit, in the bonds 
of peace." 

Of such oneness, notwithstanding the recognized 
discriminations of rank, the army may be cited as 
suggestive. The esprit de corps of the military or- 
ganization brings all to a common level. While the 
fact is apparent, to a greater or less extent, in any 
such organization, it was conspicuously true of the 
Rough Riders, that unique regiment commanded 
by that "maker of history," Theodore Roosevelt. 
With him, millionaire and common laborer, college- 
bred man and uneducated cowboy, were level in the 



The Spirit of Service 55 

ranks. Thus did the spirit of Patriotism assert it- 
self, and love of national honor, nor less the love of 
human rights, as those rights were imperilled in the 
case of the unhappy Cubans (this sentiment finds 
new emphasis — takes on new meaning — in the light 
of the developments of the world-war. How the 
ravaging of Belgium, France, Serbia, Rumania, 
Russia, intensifies the spirit of love for the weak, 
and hatred against the tyrannous strong), justified 
the obliteration of the ordinary lines of demarca- 
tion that obtain among men. And thus it is in the 
larger realm of humanity, whose welfare furnishes 
the objective of all true Christian effort; ay, just 
so the spirit of Christianity blends persons of greatly 
diversified talents into a mighty unity: those 
capable of sustained brilliant effort and those whose 
gifts are humble and sphere obscure, all merged 
into a common service for the good of mano Men 
combined to serve man ! Humanity rather than set, 
faction, clique, class, party, caste, or however it may 
be named. Man is greater than men. Each for all; 
then all for each; that is the true altruism. 

In the light of such a conception of man's ultimate 
program of service for the general good, how paltry 
the exhibition of foolish pride, manifestation of self- 
centered egoism, consummate manipulation of cir- 
cumstance in the interest of self-aggrandizement, 



56 The Spirit of Service 

must appear. New words are constantly coming in- 
to vogue; and old words receive a new significance 
on account of their more frequent employment in- 
vested with new emphasis. Among those belonging 
to the latter class occurs the word "personality." 
It would be difficult, however, to find an instance of 
more pitiful, not to say flagrant, perversion of a 
word pregnant of a truly great idea, than this word 
personality, when it is employed by people as a dis- 
tinctive term expressive of a sense of such personal 
superiority as justifies them, (in their own opinion, 
of course), in discriminating between themselves 
and others; and resentfully demurring to the con- 
nection of their names with supposedly inferior, not 
to say menial tasks. The thing is so common that 
the familiarity is simply painful as we recall the 
words: "Why you must forget who I am? I am 
So and So ! How dare you suggest such a service to 
me? If that matter needs attention get that man, 
that woman, — they have to work for their living — 
to do it. But please excuse ME. I would have 
you remember that I belong to the aristocracy! My 
father never worked, nor his father before him ! And 
now you ask ME? The very idea!" 

Oh, how shocking the contrast is between that 
spirit and the spirit of the Christ? How immeas- 
ureable the distance between such a personality and 



The Spirit of Service 57 

that of the Son of God ? Aristocracy ? What does 
it look like in His presence who was "King of kings, 
and Lord of lords?" Ancestry, genealogy? How 
trivial the pretenses of human heredity in compari- 
son with Him who was the "only begotten Son" of 
Him, who is "from everlasting to everlasting, 
GOD?" Think of Him as the embodiment of all 
essential excellence, "the glory of the Father, and 
the express image of His person," and yet stooping to 
the level of a slave washing the feet of fishermen and 
taxgatherers ! How well the words of the Psalmist 
adapt themselves to the victims of such silly pride? 
"Be still, and know that I am God," and again, 
"Commune with your own heart upon your bed, 
and be still;" and now these words of the Master, 
"For I have given you an example, that ye should 
do as I have done to you." Looking at Him we 
learn that no service is necessarily beneath the highest 
personality; that right personality exalts lowly ser- 
vice and invests it with the charm of true distinction. 
There is a story told of George Washington that 
will illustrate this point. Following his custom, he 
walked out one morning through the woods, while 
his army was in winter quarters. As he walked, 
his attention was attracted by hearing voices, and 
turning in the direction whence the sound reached 
him, he witnessed an interesting scene. A young 



58 The Spirit of Service 

man, by rank a corporal, was haughtily commanding 
a private to hurry and move a log that lay in the 
way to another place. Though the private was will- 
ing and strong, yet the output of his utmost strength 
failed to move the log to the designated place. 
Again and again the young officer ordered in per- 
emptory tones; again and again the soldier en- 
deavored to obey, but again and again he failed. 
"Try again!" thundered the young fellow, when the 
great General stepped upon the scene, and blandly 
said to the young officer, "Why don't you lend him a 
hand?" Not recognizing the General, the young 
officer, proudly drew himself to his utmost height 
and haughtily replied: "I am a corporal, sir!" 
Moving toward the laboring private. General 
Washington said, "Now, my man, let us lift to- 
gether," and in a trice the obstruction was removed 
out of the way. Then, turning to the young of- 
ficer, the great man said : "When you have further 
tasks to be done that seem beneath you, just call 
upon the Commander-in-Chief !" 

It is not hard to make the transition from such 
an incident to the objective of such a study as this. 
All that we need to bring us to our senses, when 
foolish pride would pervert us, is a careful look at 
Jesus Christ, "the Captain of our salvation," and 
as we continue "looking unto Jesus," let Paul's 



The Spirit of Service 59 

words to the Philippians come to mind: "Let this 
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; 
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not rob- 
bery to be equal with God : but made Himself of no 
reputation, and took upon Him the form of a ser- 
vant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and be- 
ing found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, 
and became obedient unto death, even the death of 
the cross. Wherefore God hath also highly ex- 
alted Him, and given Him a name which is above 
every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth, and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father." Of this passage, that masterful 
expositor, Dr. Joseph Parker, said: "This com- 
prehensive passage, I suggest, can be used for purely 
theological purposes only by accommodation. Looked 
at in connection with its surroundings, it appears 
to be rather a practical exhortation than a theolog- 
ical disquisition. Paul is not arguing a doctrinal 
point; he is not rebutting doctrinal heresy; there 
is no evidence that the Philippians held incorrect 
opinions as to the pre-existence, the divinity, or the 
incarnation of the Saviour. This summary, there- 
fore, is made, not for purely doctrinal or theological 
purposes, but as the groundwork of a powerful ap- 



6o The Spirit of Service 

peal for the cultivation of the right spirit. This 
being clearly understood the sphere of practical in- 
ference is vividly defined." 

Summarizing the epistle to, and including this 
suggestive passage, Dr. Parker offers this interesting 
paraphrase: "You, Philippians, have been a great 
joy to me; I thank my God on every remem- 
brance of you. But my joy is not quite fulfilled; 
your unanimity is not perfect; I hear of murmur- 
ings and disputings among you. I must entreat you 
in relation to this matter, 'Let this mind be in you, 
that was also in Christ Jesus.' That mind was con- 
descending, unselfish, most loving. Some of you, 
perhaps, imagine that you are too elevated and dig- 
nified to mingle with others ; let me assure you that 
this is a mistake, and quite contrary to the spirit of 
Jesus. Christ was infinitely elevated, and yet he 
stooped ; He was of reputation among the highest in- 
telligences, yet He 'made Himself of no reputation'; 
He was 'in the form of God, yet took upon Him the 
form of a servant.' He is our exemplar; let this 
mind be in you that was also in Him, then nothing 
shall be done through strife or vainglory, but in 
lowliness of mind each shall esteem other better than 
themselves. I speak unto you all, bishops and dea- 
cons alike, and declare that we are right and true 
and influential only as we are moulded after the 



The Spirit of Service 6 1 

example of the self-renouncing and condescending 
Saviour." 

Such comprehensive paraphrase must surely whet 
the appetite for the subsequent reasoning of that de- 
vout scholar, and so these pages may well be en- 
riched by vi^hat follovrs : "This, I submit, is all that 
was meant by this epitome of Christ's history. So 
far as the argument was strictly concerned, Paul 
might have paused at the fifth verse, saying, with all 
possible condensation of meaning, 'Let this mind be 
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.' All that 
follows is illustrative, — is thrown in to give breadth 
and vividness and precision to the words, 'this mind.' 
The highest should prove his highness by serving the 
lowly. There is no elevation too lofty to condescend 
to the service of the humblest of mankind. This is 
the great lesson taught by the verses in hand. . . . 

**(i) Looked at apart from their special signifi- 
cation and application, these delineations of Christ 
reveal the true method of rendering moral service 
to man. Human deliverance and progress will re- 
main a theory only until men come to work upon the 
method here stated. Great philanthropic pro- 
grammes must begin at Bethlehem, and comprehend 
the mysteries of Golgotha, if ever they would ascend 
from Bethany into the heavens. He who would 
make lif€ a redemptive mission must go to the very 



62 The Spirit of Service 

base of society, and begin his work there. Men in- 
variably fail when they begin at the high twig rather 
than the buried root. To serve man, Christ be- 
came man. So in serving others we must identify 
ourselves with them. Christ was in the darkness, 
but the darkness was not in Him. This identifica- 
tion of Himself with the human race made Christ 
accessible to all classes. Man needed for a season 
— only for a season, as one summer in the year is 
enough — a visible manifestation of God. So by 
coming to us, and being like us, and humbling Him- 
self to the death of the cross, He saved us. We, too, 
in our philanthropic work, must go down. Kings 
are only the blossoming of the great communal tree. 
'Down to the roots' is the cry of true philanthropy. 

"(2) Christ's piety was not a mere index-finger. 
Instead of saying 'That is the way,' He said, *I am 
the way.' A man's whole moral vitality must con- 
stitute his redeeming power. Men fail when they 
say 'that,' instead of 'I.' ; when they give a pronoun 
instead of the living substantive of their own sancti- 
fied character. Instead of seeing how the world's 
misery looks after it has flowed from a secretarial 
pen, and taken form upon the clean foolscap of a 
great society, we should lay our own white hand oa 
the gashed and quaking heart of humanity. 

"(3) Does it not degrade a man to have this 



The Spirit of Service 63 

personal association with human vice and misery? 
The answer may be given in a question, "Was 
Christ degraded?" More; go into the territories of 
guilt and wretchedness upon any other business than 
that of Christ, and you will be degraded. A man's 
spirit will determine his fate. Benevolence will come 
forth unpolluted as a sunbeam, beautiful as sum- 
mer's purest flower. 

"(4) Condescension is not degradation. How do 
you teach a child to read? By beginning at the 
rudimentary line ; by joining him at the very earliest 
point of inquiry, and accompanying him patiently 
through all the introductory processes. So Christ 
does in the moral education of the race. He speaks 
in monosyllables as it were. He pronounces words 
with emphasis, giving each a wide circumference, 
until every note penetrates the listener's ear. 

''(5) Are we to come down to men, or are men 
to be brought up to us? Both! With Christ as our 
example, I answer, *Be Godlike, and come down to 
those whom you would save.' 'Ye know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ'." 

Such is the reasoning of this truly great mind and 
heart on this vitally important matter, and as we 
take in the scope of what real resemblance to Jesus 
Christ involves, in acceptable and profitable work, 
the seeming severity of the animadversion expressed 



64 The Spirit of Service 

against pride is robbed of its harshness. Indeed, it 
would be difficult to speak too strongly against such 
pride as disqualifies for participation in the out- 
working of the great plan of redemption. In con- 
trast with the condescension of Christ, so empha- 
sized in the white light of Paul's argument as illus- 
trated by Parker, how shabby a thing ordinary pride 
must appear! Ordinary pride, observe, for there is 
such a thing as extraordinary pride, which we could 
well wish were more extensively cultivated and ex- 
pressed. Do we confront in this another of those 
provoking paradoxes? No; the extraordinary pride 
here pleaded for is not ordinary pride exaggerated, 
the supercilious puffed-up-ness of little folks, invest- 
ed with a "little brief authority" ; from that we may 
well pray, "Good Lord, deliver us;" but extraordi- 
nary in the sense of not being ordinary, i. e. com- 
mon; rare, because unfortunately, but seldom exhib- 
ited. This true pride is not the expression of an 
overweening sense of one's self-importance, self-con- 
ceit, a spirit that fattens on the subservience of oth- 
ers ; but the lofty consciousness of the possession and 
consecration of personal powers for the well-being 
of others, expressed in the patient prosecution of 
such service as the times and place may require. 
When, or where is there not the occasion for hearing 
the ringing words of the Master : "I am among you 



The Spirit of Service 65 

as He that serveth." It is suggestive to us that 
among those who have helped forward the world's 
highest destiny by large contributions, in which mind 
and heart found combined expression, there are not 
a few who have practically exemplified this beauti- 
ful and blessed spirit of service. Moses, learned in 
all the arts of the Egyptians and qualified to be the 
law-giver of the people God chose, could shepherd 
the flocks of another man and maintain such a spirit 
as could meet God in the burning bush. David, 
hero, warrior, poet, king, was never sublimer than 
when, as servant of God, he could cherish the spirit 
that was in perfect accord with a sentiment like 
this : "I would rather be a door-keeper in the house 
of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." 
Paul, the chiefest of the apostles, he of the giant 
mind, capable of the Epistle to the Romans and the 
Resurrection argument; he of the gentle heart, sus- 
ceptible of such feelings as he sang in the Hymn of 
Love, (i Cor. xiii), Paul, "caught up to the third 
heaven" and there vouchsafed such revelations as 
were "not lawful for man to utter," could yet earn 
his living making tents, and call himself "less than 
the least of all saints." Is it too much to say that 
in such cases as these we may find an enlargement of 
conception of what the Master imports by such a 
statement as— "Well done, good and faithful set- 



66 The Spirit of Service 

vant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 

Self-conceit may easily lead us to despise the "few 
things," especially if they be little things as well as 
few, and thus we should lose sight of the truth so 
well stated by Pusey, "Nothing is too little to be or- 
dered by our Father; nothing too little in which to 
see His hand ; nothing, which touches our souls, too 
little to accept from Him; nothing too little to be 
done for Him. Whoso neglects a thing which he 
suspects he ought to do, because it seems too small 
a thing, is deceiving himself ; it is not too little, but 
too great for him, that he doeth it not." Careless 
readers of the Bible may easily conclude that some 
veritable trivialities are commanded for our observ- 
ance; but in the light of the test Jesus sees fit to em- 
ploy in the words, "If ye love Me ye will keep My 
commandments," it appears that obedience is the test 
of love; no obedience, no love; and surely he must 
be rash who would say that obedience is a triviality. 
How swift and forcible came the words of Samuel 
to Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice; and to 
hearken, then the fat of rams." James Martineau 
evidently was familiar with the truth we are analyz- 
ing, otherwise he would be less perspicuous in his fine 
remark: "A soul occupied with great ideas best per- 



The Spirit of Service 67 

forms small duties; the divinest views of life pene- 
trate most clearly in to the meanest emergencies; so 
far from petty principles being best proportioned to 
petty trials, a heavenly spirit taking up its abode 
with us can alone sustain well the daily toils, and 
tranquilly pass the humiliations of our condition." 
How luminous appears the example of the Master 
as we look at it now in the enlarging horizon of our 
study. Well may we take the lines of Kimball, and 
fusing them with the ideas we have been meditating, 
and the desires we cherish, constitute them a heart- 
felt prayer. 

"O Father! help us to resign 

Our hearts, our strength, our wills to Thee ; 
Then even lowliest work of Thine 
Most noble, blest, and sweet will be." 

Hence we conclude that it is well worth our 
while to try hard to come to the absolute mastery 
of this true, noble, lofty conception of life. To serve 
faithfully, even in a lowly sphere, though failure 
ensue, so far as what the world deems success is con- 
cerned, is grander far than all possible success won 
at the cost of a right spirit, or the dwarfing of a 
fine personality. Service is a greater, more glorious 
thing than success; especially when success is more 
the result of fortuitous circumstance, won by adven- 



68 The Spirit of Service 

titious aid, rather than compelled by inherent per- 
sonal quality. Service is the nobler, higher ideal; 
therefore we should fix our eye on it, nor let the 
vision escape us. Like Paul school ourselves to say, 
"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." Fash- 
ioning our life after this model, though we may 
come short of the things the world emphasizes as es- 
sential to success, God, who "seeth not as man 
seeth," will account us worthy of honor greater far 
than the world can give, though we ascended the 
summit of its loftiest peak. Besides, we should feel 
the sting of condemnation in our very heart, while 
listening to such plaudits, if on that exalted pinna- 
cle we should come to remember that for our eleva- 
tion, we are more largely indebted to the service of 
others than our own personal achievement; and is it 
not true that large success of the worldly sort is in 
exact ratio to the efforts, the labors of others? And 
is it not also true that the success Christ achieved, 
and would have us share, comes from service that 
stops not short of sacrifice in behalf of others ? That 
question is submitted in full assurance of an affirma- 
tive answer. Christ's sublime conception of His mis- 
sion, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister; and to give His life a ransom 
for many;" found fitting resemblance in Paul's ex- 
clamation, "Neither count I my life dear unto my- 



The Spirit of Service 69 

self, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the 
ministry I have received of the Lord Jesus." And 
as the Master could say at the threshold of Geth- 
semane, "I have glorified thee on the earth, I have 
finished the work which thou gavest Me to do." and 
on Calvary, "It is finished!" bow his head and give 
up His spirit to His Father ; so the apostle, likewise, 
could write to his beloved son in the Gospel, Timo- 
thy, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand; I have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith;" and soon afterwards, on the road to 
Ostia, bowing his neck to the executioner's sword, 
seals his devotion to his Lord and his service for the 
race the Lord came to save, service to the point of 
sacrifice, with his blood. 



FAITH DESPITE DIFFICULTIES 

'\X7 AS there something disappointing in the use of 
^^ the words, "service, though failure ensue"? 
There need not be, for there is in service a sense of 
reward no less than gratification, in the very output 
of the effort; for that embodies in a greater or less 
degree our faith, hope and love; and these can never 
be summoned to useful expression in endeavor with- 
out the experience of recompense. Who has not heard 
over and over, in varying phrase it may be, that the 
joy of pursuit surpasses the pleasure of possession? 
And here we have an illustration of the fact, though 
but an imperfect one it must be admitted. Because 
we cannot attain our highest ideals, is it, there- 
fore, useless to have them ? Not so does Ralph Wal- 
do Emerson suggest in his famous words: 

"Aim high; shoot afar! 
Higher he that means a star, 
Than he that means a tree!" 

And to greater length Arthur Hugh Clough, 
works the thought out in his suggestive lines: 

"Say not, the struggle naught availeth, 
The labor and the wounds are vain, 

70 



The Spirit of Service 71 

The enemy faints not, nor faileth, 
And as things have been, they remain. 

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars ; 

It may be, in yon smoke concealed. 
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers, 

And but for you, possess the field. 

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking. 
Seem here no painful inch to gain, 

Far back, through creeks and inlets making. 
Comes silent, flooding in, the main. 

And not by eastern windows only, 

When daylight comes, comes in the light ; 

In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly! 
But westward, look, the land is bright." 

By such people of faith, and hope, and love, 
keeping on struggling, often "faint, yet pursuing," 
have the splendid results that sum themselves up in 
our Christian civilization been secured. To many 
of the noblest of them recognition came all too late ; 
coronation came long after crucifixion. But recog- 
nition, coronation, though tardy, was bound to come, 
and these who reckoned it joy that "they were 
counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" 
of Christ in the service of man, constitute a splendid 
galaxy of the famous whose memory the world will 
not let die. Humbling themselves for the uplift 



72 The Spirit of Service 

of others, In that uplift came their own exaltation. 

For the sake of emphasis, mainly, let us therefore, 
once more challenge attention to the folly, the pity 
of the pride, the self-conceit so many cherish, that 
because they belong to some distinctive class, "up- 
per-ten," "cream-de-la-cream," "gentry," "elite," 
etc., etc., therefore they must not be considered in 
connection with any other than distinguished ser- 
vice; all such employment is, forsooth, "beneath 
US!" But oh, the inconsistency of them! Think 
of it for a minute or two, for 

"'Tis true, 'tis pity, 
And. pity 'tis, 'tis true," 

these self-same folks, only too many of them, who 
would scorn to work with their hands, yet do not 
at all scruple — by their wits — to "work" others out 
of estate, happiness, peace, even life! People who 
would not think with complacency of stooping to 
black their boots, have no compunction whatever in 
blacking the reputation of their neighbors; who 
could not entertain the idea of shaving themselves, 
and who nod with cold greeting to the barber who 
serves them, but who can, with gay abandon, make 
merry in the shameless task of shaving notes, and 
from feathers, ruthlessly plucked from others' 
breasts, line their own ungodly nests. It is here we 



The Spirit of Service 73 

come to see the vast difference there is between the 
ordinary and the extraordinary pride of which we 
have spoken ; between false, and true pride ; the one 
is self-conceit, the other is self-esteem; self-conceit 
operating to our folly and the disadvantage of oth- 
ers; self-esteem, that high regard of self, growing 
out of right regard of others, which will not allow 
us to stoop to a low, mean thing, not to mention 
descent to a criminal act ; and this indisposition aris- 
ing, not from a sense of fastidiousness, (the badge 
of exclusiveness ) but from the higher sense of 
moral integrity, religious principle; and this not be- 
cause we are in one social class rather than 
another, but because we are heaven-born, the sons 
and daughters of God, made in His image and like- 
ness; from Him, and destined, if we live in harmony 
with His will, working out the principles set forth 
in the gospel of His Son, thus developing such high 
personality as will fit us to go to Him again and 
abide with Him forever. Because of this, we can- 
not afford to do anything that will make Him 
ashamed of us, or make us ashamed of ourselves; 
nor can we afford not to do anything by which our 
fellows may by us be served, and so helped to take 
a step upward in the path of life. Instead of mak- 
ing of others footstools for our proud feet, we should 
be willing, when need arises, to make of ourselves 



74 The Spirit of Service 

stepping-stones for their uplift. That is the spirit 
of Christ ; that is the genius of Christianity ; that is 
the Pattern shown us on the Mount. 

That keen thinker, Dr. Lyman Abbott, erratic 
sometimes in some things, struck a chord sometime 
ago, whose vibrations we could wish might thrill a 
myriad souls, when, in answer to the question: "Do 
you think Christianity will save the race?" he re- 
plied, "I do not know; it has never yet been tried!" 
Ah what a truth there is in that reply, as descrip- 
tive of multitudes on multitudes of nominal adher- 
ents of Christianity, just "members of the church," 
but not living, fruitful branches of the "True Vine." 
Herein is an answer to the question, "Why has the 
world not yet, in nearly two thousand years of gos- 
pel light, capitulated to the Church?" When all 
nominal professors of the religion of Jesus Christ 
come to be the living incarnation of His spirit, and 
develop into "fullness of stature" of manhood and 
womanhood "in Christ Jesus;" when in every life 
the "fruits of the Spirit" shall abound, even as the 
Husbandman desires to see fruit on every branch; 
when all live such lives as will compel the world of 
today to duplicate the tribute won from the San- 
hedrin when trying Peter and John, "And they took 
knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus ;" 
when all let their "light so shine before men, that 



The Spirit of Service 75 

they may see your good works, and glorify your 
Father who is in heaven," and the Church comes 
to be really "A city set on a hill that cannot be hid," 
then shall "the knowledge of the Lord cover the 
earth as the waters cover the sea," and Jesus Christ 
shall be acclaimed "King of kings, and Lord of 
lords." 

It is both a comfort and an inspiration to know 
that the grace requisite to stimulate to this high 
attainment and to sustain us in maintaining it, is not 
only sufficient but available. "My grace is suf- 
ficient for thee," and "He giveth more grace." "If 
ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall 
ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." 
"Not by might, nor by power; but by My Spirit 
saith the Lord." "If ye then, being evil, know how 
to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 
to them that ask Him?" We may dare, therefore, 
to take God at His word, and fully expect the ful- 
fillment of His promises if we meet the conditions 
He has seen wise and proper to establish. "I will in- 
struct thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt 
go, I will guide thee with mine eye." "Lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 

Such assurances as these, not to speak at length of 
the many "exceeding great and precious promises," 



76 The Spirit of Service 

ought surely to stimulate us in the immediate under- 
taking of securing such a spirit and developing such 
a personality. To too great an extent we are crea- 
tures of impulse, subject to moods, rather than de- 
votees of principle, held by the grip of definite con- 
viction. Under impulse we are prone to deplore 
that our lot is humble, our sphere obscure, our en- 
dowment trifling, our service inconspicuous; in such 
a mood we stand in our own light and render our- 
selves incapable of our best, as well as unacceptable 
to those in whose behalf we labor. When thus vic- 
timized, let us turn the eye of our mind back to that 
upper room and contemplate with new interest that 
wondrous scene, and remember that that lowly form 
is the Son of God, who knowing that He had come 
from God, could yet stoop to wash the feet of His 
disciples, and then say to them, and through them 
to lis, "I have given you an example, that ye should 
do as I have done," i. e. render such service as may 
be required by whomsoever we meet, whenever we 
can, and wherever we may be. Thus we shall be 
preserved from discouragement and saved from envy. 
Learning to look at life as God sees it, and estimat- 
ing the value of the little things as constituent parts 
of the stupendous whole, we shall come to realize 
the truth Susan Coolidge so finelv expresses in ^he^ 
stanza : 



The Spirit of Service 77 

"The lives which seem so poor, so low, 

The hearts which are so cramped and dull, 
The baffled hopes, the impulse slow, 
Thou takest, touchest all, and lo! 
They blossom to the beautiful." 

Ay, to just that extent is God interested in us and 
concerned for us. If we determinedly confront the 
opportunities that this minute presents, with all our 
powers of mind and heart alert, seeking conformity 
to such revelation as God is pleased to make, be sure 
we are then in the right situation to receive such 
further communications of His will as will best 
contribute to our good and His glory. Resentment 
on account of what we may consider an inferior 
place, will not change matters for the better at all, 
and surely we who have the Scriptures and can read 
them in the light of Christianty's triumphs, ought to 
be at least as wise as the pagan philosopher, Marcus 
Antonious. How his sentiment must shame many 
of us, "Adapt thyself to the things with which thy 
lot has been cast ; and love the men with whom it is 
thy portion to live, and that with a sincere affection. 
No longer be either dissatisfied with thy present lot, 
or shrink from the future." Very direct is the con- 
nection R. C. Trench sees between God's will and 
our environment: 

"Thou camest not to thy place by accident, 



78 The Spirit of Service 

It is the very place God meant for thee ; 

And shouldst thou there small scope for action see. 

Do not for this give room to discontent." 

And Stopford A. Brooke has a similar conception in 
these telling words : "We complain of the slow, dull 
life we are forced to lead, of our humble sphere of 
action, of our low position in the scale of society, of 
our having no room to make ourselves known, of 
our wasted energies, of our years of patience. So 
do we say that we have no Father who is directing 
our life; so do we say that God has forgotten us; 
so do we boldly judge what life is best for us; and 
so, by our complaining, do we lose the use and profit 
of our quiet years. O men of little faith! Because 
you are not sent out yet into your labor, do you 
think God has ceased to remember you? Because 
you are forced to be outwardly inactive, do you think 
you also, may not be, in your years of quiet, 'about 
your Father's business' ? It is a period given to us in 
which to mature ourselves for the work which God 
will give us to do." And for this splendid bit from 
H. W. Smith we should be specially grateful; "He 
does not need to transplant us into a different field, 
but right where we are, with just the circumstances 
that surround us. He makes His sun to shine and 
His dew to fall upon us, and transforms the very 
things that were before our greatest hindrances, into 



The Spirit of Service 79 

the chiefest and most blessed means of our growth. 
No difficulties in your case can baffle Him. No 
dwarfing of your growth in years that are past, no 
apparent dryness of your inward springs of life, no 
crookedness or deformity in any of your past devel- 
opment, can in the least mar the perfect work that 
He will accomplish, if you will only put yourselves 
into his hands, and let Him have His way with you." 
Nor is J. H. Thorn less suggestive when he insists 
"It is not by seeking more fertile regions where toil 
is lighter — happier circumstances free from difficult 
complications and troublesome people — but by bring- 
ing the high courage of a devout soul, clear in princi- 
ple and aim, to bear upon what is given to us, that 
we may brighten our inward light, lead something 
of a true life, and introduce the kingdom of heaven 
into the midst of our earthly day. If we cannot work 
out the will of God where God has placed us, then 
why has He placed us here?" Within brief com- 
pass the brilliant Canon Farrar crowded a lot of 
heartening encouragement when he wrote, "A life 
spent in brushing clothes, and washing crockery, and 
sweeping floors — a life which the proud of earth 
would have treated as the dust under their feet; a 
life spent at the clerk's desk ; a life spent in the nar- 
row shop; a life spent in the laborer's hut, may yet 
be a life so ennobled by God's loving mercy, that for 



8o The Spirit of Service 

the sake of it a king might gladly yield his crown." 
Visitors to the Louvre in Paris, find few pictures 
more fascinating than that splendid conception of 
the dignity, almost divinity of even common service, 
which Murillo presents in a masterpiece fine enough 
to immortalize any artist. The scene is one humble 
enough, to be sure, just the view of a kitchen with 
all the utensils peculiar to that part of a house. But 
there is this difference; instead of ordinary servants 
in kitchen garb, white-robed angels with snowy 
wings are at work. And interest becomes absorb- 
ing when we consider the grace with which one puts 
the kettle on the fire ; another with beautiful seren- 
ity is lifting a bucket of water, and still another di- 
rects attention to the cupboard whence the plates are 
to be conveyed to the table, and so on. And the ef- 
fect of it all is to carry the thought up from kitchen 
drudgery to angelic ministration. Somehow the 
common things lose their plainness and take on the 
beauty and lustre of the new servants, which, after 
all, is but an artistic parable brimful of the central 
truth this book aims to illustrate. 

But there are some, yielding to impulse and mood, 
who will scoff at this and say with contempt, "A 
kitchen! If it were a pulpit now, that would be 
something like!" Ah, contemptuous one, the lesson 
couched in the sweet story of St. Francis of Assisi 



The Spirit of Service 8 1 

has not yet been learned by you! One morning he 
went down through the cloisters of the monastery 
over which he presided, and approaching a young 
monk he said, ''Come, brother, let us go down into 
the town and preach." And they went forth; the 
aged saint and the young disciple. As they walked 
they talked, such talk as befits consecrated age and 
aspiring youth. And in their walk they traversed 
the streets, strolled through the alleys and sauntered 
along through the suburbs, reaching even to the vil- 
lage beyond, and presently again reached the monas- 
tery. Looking up into the old man's face the young 
monk asked, "When shall the preaching begin, 
Father?" And the old saint looking into the eager 
face replied, "My son, we have been preach- 
ing; we were preaching while we were walking. 
We have been seen, looked at; our behaviour has 
been remarked ; and so we have delivered a morning 
sermon. Ah! my son, it is of no use that we walk 
anywhere to preach unless we preach as we walk." 
How striking the resemblance between the thought 
so aptly expressed by the old monk and the impor- 
tunate prayer of the Psalmist, (Psa. 27:11) "Teach 
me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path," 
i. e. a path so straight and plain as that it will be 
easy to keep, "because of mine enemies ;" i. e. those 
who are looking at, carefully observing, lying in 



82 The Spirit of Service 

wait for me. And be sure that there is much truth 
in the phrase so much afEected by our fathers and 
mothers in the Church, "The Christian should be 
known by his walk and conversation." Thus the 
day, the whole day, spent in such a frame of mind and 
heart, will contribute to the effective preaching of a 
good life, and whether the kitchen or the pulpit be 
the environment of the service, God shall be glori- 
fied and our fellows be helped. This bit from E. R. 
Sill is worth while: 

'Torenoon and afternoon and night; forenoon, 
And afternoon and night; forenoon and — what! 
The empty song repeats itself. No more ? 
Yes, that is life. Make this forenoon sublime, 
This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer, 
And time is conquered, and thy crown is won." 

Among the things to be most assidiously guarded 
against is the temptation to envy the position and 
work of others, thus introducing an element of dis- 
content and dissatisfaction quite subversive of our 
efficiency in the prosecution of our own tasks. Not 
only so, but think of the time wasted in fruitless 
imaginings, in vain regrets! What a corrective of 
such disorders of mind and heart, will be the de- 
termined study of such ringing words of the Master 
as, "I must work the works of Him tliat sent Me 



The Spirit of Service 83 

while it is day, the night cometh when no man can 
work. ... I have glorified Thee on the earth, 
I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to 
do." As He recognized the work to which He 
was assigned, as HIS OWN peculiar work, so let 
us recognize the task now immediately at hand as 
OUR WORK, and as such to be done in the spirit 
of the passage already quoted, "Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might!" Or, in 
the form of the more familiar adage, "Whatever is 
worth doing at all, is worth doing well!" Here 
are words that will justify the effort of committing 
them to memory ; and the character of the man who 
wrote them, (Thomas Carlyle) owes not a little of 
its rugged charm and abiding influence to the fact 
that he himself was a fine exponent of the principle 
he so eloquently expressed: "Blessed is he who has 
found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. 
He has a work, a life purpose ; he has found it, and 
will follow it ! How, as a free-flowing channel, dug 
and torn by noble force through the sour mud- 
swamp of one's existence, like an ever-deepening 
river there, it runs and flows, draining off the sour, 
festering water gradually from the root of the re- 
motest grass blade; making, instead of pestilential 
swamp, a green, fruitful meadow itself, let the 
stream and its value be great or small! . . . 



84 The Spirit of Service 

All true work is sacred ; in all true work, were it 
but true hand-labor, there is something of divineness. 
Labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in heaven." 
Looking at the ordinary toil of an ordinary day, in 
the development of an ordinary career, through the 
lens of such a philosophy of life as is outlined in 
the words of Carlyle, and to a greater extent, though 
much more briefly expressed, in the words of Him 
"Who spake as never man spake," how transfigured 
it all looks! What new lustre attaches to it, what 
undreamed of significance inheres in it, what eternal 
possibilities are embraced by it! Oh! it is surely 
the very highest wisdom to find new suggestion in 
the apostle's exhortation: "Therefore let us also, 
seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud 
of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin 
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with 
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for 
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, 
despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand 
of the throne of God." 

Note especially the hidden wealth of meaning 
there is in the little sentence, "looking unto Jesus." 
Oh, that is profoundly suggestive. One day, a vis- 
itor entered the studio of a famous artist, and after 
gazing admiringly at one work of art after another, 



The Spirit of Service 85 

he approached the easel where the painter was at 
work. His attention was attracted to some flashing 
jewels resting on the easel. It seemed strange to 
the visitor that gems of so great value should lie thus 
carelessly exposed, and so he inquired the reason for 
it. The artist replied, "I keep them there to tone 
up my eyes. When I am working in pigments, in- 
sensibly the sense of color becomes weakened. By 
having these pure colors before me to refresh my 
eyes the sense of color is brought up again, just as 
the musician by his tuning fork brings his strings 
up to the concert pitch." Do you see now how 
much is meant by "looking unto Jesus?" Just as 
the artist's eye, or the musician's ear, needs the 
toning up of essential standards in color and sound, 
so do we require the stimulating influence of an es- 
sential standard in moral quality, a true pattern in 
life-service. And such we find only in Him! Just 
as light is a permanent quality, and gems of real 
worth meet its challenge by the steady maintenance 
of undimmed brilliance of color; just as the air 
retains the ethereal element resonant to the vibrat- 
ing quality of the tuning-fork, interpreting to the 
musician's ear the intrinsic value of pure tone, so 
the Christ, of whom the apostle spoke so well as, 
"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for- 
ever," presents to the inquiring disciple an unchang- 



86 The Spirit of Service 

ing substance of essential permanence, "without var- 
iableness or shadow of turning." Therefore, look 
unto Him, and the inquisitive, eager-to-learn gaze 
shall be rewarded with such revelations as will not 
only redeem humble service from the drudgery of 
commonplace, and obscure duties from the blighting 
effect of the rust of unappreciation, but will, by the 
law of necessary imitation, (2 Cor. 3:18, "But 
we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, 
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
Lord"), come to the attainment of high spirit, the 
development of fine personality. 

Especially do we need the effect of such continued 
"Looking unto Jesus," in order to sustained fidelity 
in behalf of the salvation of many with whom we 
come in contact, who seem not to be worth the in- 
vestment of the time and effort of even an attempt; 
such as make pertinent the old saying, "The game is 
hardly worth the candle!" But who, — "looking unto 
Jesus" to learn His will, to study His method, to 
catch the inspiration of His example, — can fail to 
find such a spirit rebuked, when His treatment of 
such cases as blind Bartimeus, the outcast lepers, the 
abandoned woman, the demoniac of Gadara, Zac- 
cheus, the Samaritan woman, the thief on the cross, 
are carefully analyzed? Time's clock has- ticked 



The Spirit of Service 87 

off many thousands of years since God emphasized 
the lesson to Cain, that man is his brother s keeper; 
and about twenty centuries since the God-man, Jesus, 
taught the compelling truth of the Parable of the 
Good Samaritan, giving infinite extension to the idea 
of neighborliness, and yet, alas! for the "slowness of 
heart to believe all" the content of the informing 
Scriptures, not a few discriminate adversely against 
those whose unsaved and, therefore, unhappy condi- 
tion should constitute a standing challenge, and in- 
carnate an irresistible appeal. And yet, moreover, it 
is still necessary to remind such folks of the truth, 
"God seeth not as man seeth, man looketh on the 
outward appearance, but God looketh upon the 
heart," and more often than we can know, or ever 
tell, underneath a forbidding appearance there beat 
hearts of finest fibre, reside souls of wondrous ca- 
pacity. 

Did you ever get Ruskin's suggestive analysis of 
city mud ? It is not only worth quoting, but worth 
remembering. "What dirty, dreadful, disgusting 
stuff," exclaims a man regarding that peculiarly un- 
pleasant compound, the mud of London streets. 
"Hold, my friend," says Ruskin. "Not so dread- 
ful after all. What are the elements of this mud? 
First there is sand, but when its particles are crystal- 
lized according to the law of its nature, what is nicer 



88 The Spirit of Service 

than clean, white sand? And when that which 
enters into it is arranged according to a still higher 
law, we have the matchless opal. What else have 
we in this mud? Clay. And the materials of clay, 
when the particles are arranged according to their 
higher laws, make the brilliant sapphire. What oth- 
er ingredients enter into the London mud? Soot. 
And soot in its crystallized perfection forms the dia- 
mond. There is but one other, — ^water. And water 
when distilled according to the higher law of its na- 
ture, forms the dew-drop resting in exquisite perfec- 
tion in the heart of the rose." Thus may we, through 
the resolution of the city mud into its component ele- 
ments, come to see, in parabolic form, possibilities in 
debased, degraded, depraved human nature. In 
many of its manifestations as unlovely, as unlovable, 
as disgusting, indeed, as city mud; and yet contain- 
ing elements susceptible of redemption, re-arrange- 
ment, readjustment, as will furnish, in saved souls, 
the glorious duplicates of opals, sapphires, diamonds, 
for the adornment of the "royal diadem" with which 
on the day of eternal coronation, we shall see Him 
crowned, of whom Edward Perronet sang : 

"All hail the power of Jesus' Name, 
Let angels prostrate fall; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown Him Lord of all. 



The Spirit of Service 89 

O that with yonder sacred throng 

We at His feet may fall; 
We'll join the everlasting song, 

And crown Him Lord of all." 

Have we learned the lesson? This thing we call 
SERVICE, irrespective of the adventitious elements of 
place and circumstance, just plain service, whether 
it enlist in its accomplishment one talent, two tal- 
ents, or five talents, is Christianity's heart, the very 
genius of it, instinct with its essence, the effluence of 
its spirit. And it is to be noted that all service in 
behalf of others is conducive to personal well-being; 
we never stoop but to rise. We have but begun to 
apprehend the scope of the meaning of His words, 
**He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." The 
blunt directness of this putting of the matter by 
David Sherman, is fully justified by the importance 
of it, "To live in other lives, to do something for 
other people, to gladden those about us, is the true 
way to help ourselves. Each one has a work to do 
in this great social organism, which he may shirk 
only at his peril. Here are his school and workshop. 
The real men and women are those who do some- 
thing for the race. That is a defective and worth- 
less life plan which has in it no provision for min- 
istering to others. To live to oneself is to live a nar- 
row, cheap, and worthless life; to secure the true 



90 The Spirit of Service 

riches our life must give out its fragrance to fill all 
the circle in which we move." That was the actual 
character of the life of our great Exemplar, and 
forevermore we must, as the apostle suggests, keep 
"looking unto Jesus"; like the artist, tone up our 
color sense by looking at His gem-like character in 
the white light of His consecration, so that the lives 
of others may be properly cognized; like the musi- 
cian, allow the music of His speech constitute the 
tuning-fork according to which we should pitch the 
symphony of our obedience. Thus actuated, in- 
spired, if you please, we shall find no difficulty in 
keeping step to duty's drum-beat; no hardship in 
even lowly service; no depression in obscure devo- 
tion. Should the temptation come, we shall be able 
and ready to retort : Our Lord, He who was essen- 
tial Deity, essayed the menial task of feet-washing, 
and was not thereby humiliated, but was the rather 
exalted to a higher plane; that lowly employment 
did not uncrown Him ; rather did it add to the lustre 
of His crown. 



FIDELITY IN SERVICE. 

NO words so fitting, in closing this study, as those 
which He, THE SERVANT PRE-EMI- 
NENT, so well spoke. Three notable utterances will 
suffice to measure the scope of His mind touching the 
service we render. First: How assuring is the fact 
that His appreciation of, and compensation for ser- 
vice is not based upon the matter of ability, so much 
as upon the evidence of fidelity. Therefore it is that 
in the Parable of the talents, there is not so much as 
the change of a syllable in the praise bestowed upon 
the workers respectively; the two talent man being 
addressed in precisely the same fashion as he to 
whom five talents had been given. See the record: 
(Matt. 25:23) "And he that received the five tal- 
ents came and brought other five talents, saying, 
Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo,Ihave 
gained other five talents. His lord said unto him, 
Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over 
many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 
And he also that received the two talents came and 
said. Lord thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, 
I have gained other two talents. His lord said unto 
him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou 

91 



92 The Spirit of Service 

hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee 
over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy 
lord." And it is surely true that, had the servant 
to whom the one talent had been given, been equally 
faithful in his service, and had brought the proceeds 
of his labor, there had been no syllable of apprecia- 
tive eulogy subtracted from the Master's praise; he, 
too, would have heard the gracious words, "Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant : thou hast been 
faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many 
things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Not 
ability, therefore, is praised, the five-talent possessor 
towering up above the one with but two; the two- 
talent possessor looming up conspicuous over the 
man with but one ; no ; but rather that matter of 
greater concern, that in which the one-talent man 
may shine as resplendently as he whose endowments 
are multiplied five-fold, viz. faithfulness! 
Thank God, here is ground common to all. And 
this it is that determines whether or not the disciple, 
like his Lord, possesses truly High Spirit; whether 
the servant, like his Master, has cultivated a really 
Fine Personality. How all-comprehending that strik- 
ing command with promise, "Be thou faithful unto 
death, and I will give thee the crown of life." 

Second: That tremendous passage, descriptive of 
the general judgment. (Matt. 25:31-46) "But 



The Spirit of Service 93 

when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and 
all the angels with Him, then shall He sit on the 
throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gather- 
ed all the nations: and He shall separate them one 
from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep 
from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His 
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall 
the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world ; for I was 
hungry, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and 
ye gave Me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took Me 
in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye 
visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. 
Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying. Lord, 
when saw we Thee hungry, and fed Thee? or 
athirst, and gave Thee drink? And when saw we 
Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and 
clothed Thee? And when saw we Thee sick, or in 
prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall 
answer and say unto them. Verily, I say unto you. 
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these 
My brethren, even these least, ye did it unto Me. 

"Then shall He say also unto them on the left 
hand Depart from me ye cursed, into the eternal fire, 
which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for 
I was hungry, and ye did not give Me to eat ; I was 



94 The Spirit of Service 

thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink ; I was a stranger, 
and ye took Me not in ; naked, and ye clothed Me 
not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. 
Then shall they also answer. Lord, when saw we 
Thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or 
sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? 
Then shall He answer them saying, Verily, I say 
unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these 
least, ye did it not unto Me. And these shall go 
away into eternal punishment: but the righteous 
into eternal life." 

What an incentive to service this graphic por- 
trayal of the coming judgment affords in the light 
of the essential identity Jesus Christ asserts as ex- 
isting between Himself and all who are in need of 
such service as His disciples can rfender? Read the 
assertion over again, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto 
one of these My brethren, even these least, ye did it 
unto Me. ... Inasmuch as ye did it not unto 
one of these least, ye did it not unto Me." Oh how 
precious the very "least" appears, when it is remem- 
bered that in him Jesus is interested, with him Jesus 
is identified! 

To those familiar with that remarkable poem by 
James Russell Lowell, "The Vision of Sir Launfal," 
this idea of identity between the Lord Christ and 
earth's needy ones cannot but recall it. For the 



The Spirit of Service 95 

present purpose only that part of the poem need be 
quoted, though the reader unfamiliar with it, can 
well afford to go to the trouble to procure and read 
it all. 

"For Christ's sweet sake, I beg an alms;" 
The happy camels may reach the spring. 
But Sir Launfal sees only the grewsome thing, 
The leper, lank as the rain-blanched bone, 
That cowers beside him, a thing as lone 
And white as the ice-isles of Northern seas 
In the desolate horror of his disease. 

And Sir Launfal said, "I behold in thee 

An image of Him who died on the tree; 

Thou also hast had thy crown of thorns, 

Thou also hast had the world's buffets and scorns, 

And to thy life were not denied 

The wounds in the hands and feet and side : 

Mild Mary's Son, acknowledge me; 

Behold through Him, I give to Thee!" 

Then the soul of the leper stood up in his eyes 

And looked at Sir Launfal, and straightway he 

Remembered in what a haughtier guise 

He had flung an alms to leprosy. 

When he girt his young life up in gilded mail 

And set forth in search of the Holy Grail. 

The heart within him was ashes and dusk; 

He parted in twain his single crust, 

He broke the ice on the streamlet's brink, 



96 The Spirit of Service 

And gave the leper to eat and drink, 
'Twas a mouldy crust of coarse brown bread, 
'Twas water out of a wooden bowl, — 
Yet with fine wheaten bread was the leper fed. 
And 'twas red wine he drank with his thirsty 
soul. 

As Sir Launfal mused with a downcast face, 

A light shone round about the place; 

The leper no longer crouched at his side, 

But stood before him glorified, 

Shining and tall and fair and straight 

As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful Gate, — 

Himself the Gate whereby men can 

Enter the temple of God in Man. 

His words were shed softer than leaves from the 

pine, 
And they fell on Sir Launfal as snows on the brine, 
That mingle their softness and quiet in one 
With the shaggy unrest they float down upon ; 
And the voice that was softer than silence said, 
'Lo, it is I, be not afraid ! 
In many climes without avail, 
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail; 
Behold it is here, — this cup which thou 
Didst fill at the streamlet for Me but now ; 
This crust is My body broken for thee. 
This water His blood that died on the tree; 
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed. 
In whatso we share with another's need ; 
Not what we give, but what we share, 



The Spirit of Service 97 

For the gift without the giver is bare ; 

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, 

Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me.' " 

And is it not a fair surmise that that was the very 
spirit in which Paul, the apostle, wrote the sublime 
words, (Rom. i :ii-i5) "For I long to see you, that 
I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end 
ye may be established ; that is, that I with you may 
be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, 
both yours and mine. And I would not have you 
ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to 
come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I 
might have some fruit in you also, even as in the 
rest of the Gentiles. I am debtor both to Greeks 
and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the fool- 
ish. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach 
the gospel to you also that are in Rome." 

Nor does he leave us in ignorance as to the secret 
of the high spirit he exhibited, and the fine personal- 
ity so consistently maintained. Hear him, "For the 
love of Christ constraineth me!" Ay, it was the mas- 
terful impulse of the Christ that wrought so won- 
derfully in him. Second only in importance to that 
thought of Christ's identification of Himself with 
others, is the thought of self-identification with Jesus 
Christ. Again let Paul speak, (Gal. 2:19-20) "For 
I through the law died unto the law, that I might 



98 The Spirit of Service 

live unto God. I have been crucified with Christ; 
and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in 
me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I 
live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, 
who loved me, and gave Himself up for me." And 
again, (Phil. 1:21), "For to me to live is Christ." 
Working for Christ in others through Christ's spirit. 
Into how fine a fellowship, then, does this concep- 
tion of life-service, bring us ! And the grim old Sage 
of Chelsea seldom spoke with truer emphasis than 
when, thinking in a similar strain, he wrote, "Who 
art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? Com- 
plain not. Look up, my wearied brother; see thy 
fellow-workmen there, in God's Eternity; surviving 
there, they alone surviving; sacred band of the Im- 
mortals, celestial body-guard of the empire of man- 
kind. To thee Heaven, though severe, is not un- 
kind; Heaven is kind, — as a noble mother; as that 
Spartan mother, saying, while she gave her son his 
shield, 'With it, my son, or upon it.' Thou too shalt 
return home in honor; to thy far-distant Home, in 
honour ; doubt it not, — if in the battle thou keep thy 
shield! Thou, in the Eternities and deepest death- 
kingdoms, art not an alien; thou everywhere art a 
denizen. Complain not." Glorious fellowship! 
Hear again the Christ, "My Father worketh hith- 
erto and I work." And again, (Matt. 28:18-20), 



The Spirit of Service 99 

"And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, say- 
ing, All authority hath been given unto Me in heav- 
en and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disci- 
ples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatso- 
ever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you al- 
ways, even unto the end of the world." 

Third: (John 12:26), "If any man serve Me, 
let him follow Me ; and where I am, there shall also 
My servant be : if any man serve Me, him will the 
Father honor." This is a very remarkable verse, full 
of suggestion, and it may not be amiss as, in all prob- 
ability, it may easily be expected that such an essay 
as this ought not to conclude without some definite 
observations on the Reward ensuing upon such ser^ 
vice as has been pleaded for. 

In the finer reasoning it is doubtless true that the 
consciousness of service rendered, duty done, is its 
own reward. Is not that fact implicit in the words 
of our great Exemplar, "I have meat to eat that ye 
know not. . . . My meat is to do the will of Him 
that sent Me, and to accomplish His work." Now, if 
we \vere all possessed of His spirit, or had such ma- 
ture mentality as glorified Paul, the argument might 
well rest here. But, alas, that is not the case. Speak- 
ing broadly there are but few Christian students en- 



lOO The Spirit of Service 

gaged in what we may call post graduate work, i. e. 
definitely pursuing the principles and processes of 
the "higher life"; — the vast majority are yet strug- 
gling with the lessons in lower grades. When we 
ought to be, by reason of age in life and length of 
Christian profession, able to masticate and assimi- 
late the "strong meat" of Christian doctrine, and ex- 
ult in the energetic activity of Christian service, we 
are yet in need of "the sincere milk of the word," 
and require the service of gentle teachers who weary 
not in giving us "line upon line, line upon line ; pre- 
cept upon precept, precept upon precept; here a lit- 
tle and there a little," instructing us over and over 
again in "the first principles." 

To some readers, the introduction of this topic of 
reward for service may seem gratuitous, and be re- 
garded as at the cost of the value of the discussion 
as a whole, but such readers may well exercise the 
necessary charity to permit, for the sake of the vast- 
ly greater number, such consideration as may awak- 
en desire and perchance "provoke unto love and good 
works," and thus foster the determination to pur- 
sue the serviceful life. 

It is, to say the least, a significant fact that what 
may be called the mercenary mind, or the bargaining 
spirit, in the Christian life, is frequently met with 
in both the Old and New Testament. For exam- 



The Spirit of Service lOl 

pie: Recall that question in Job : "What profit shall 
we have if we pray unto Him?" and you will find it 
matched by Peter's query "We have left all and fol- 
lowed Thee, What shall we have, therefore?" With- 
out undue protraction of the argument, or many il- 
lustrations of that spirit, evidenced from the days of 
Jacob to the times of Jude, let it suffice to say that 
this persistent trait of our nature is not only recog- 
nized by our Lord but is actually appealed to and 
fostered. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will 
give thee a crown of life." "Let us not be weary 
in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we 
faint not." The query in Job is answered in John, 
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name I will give it 
you." Peter's insistent demand, "What shall we 
have therefore?" brought the reply, "Every one that 
hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, 
or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's 
sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, and shall inherit 
eternal life." How very full and clear and satis- 
factory the fact of His recognition of the claims 
of service in the words, "Go ye also into the vine- 
yard, and whatsoever is right I will give you." "If 
any man serve Me him will My Father honor, and 
where I am there shall also My servant be." 

"Any man," — whatever may be the grade of his 
personality, however limited his capacity, or few his 
talents, or inconspicuous the service he renders, just 



I02 The Spirit of Service 

giving a "cup of cold water," or "washing feet," — 
"any man," to him comes the message, "Behold I 
set before you an open door;" enter it, do well the 
work that is set for you, and the reward is sure. 
Hear it, "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord." Hence we conclude that there is ab- 
solutely pledged adequate and proper recompense. 

The sufficient explanation is seen in the closeness 
of the relation that exists between faith and the life. 
"No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the 
Holy Spirit." "He that cometh to God must believe 
that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that 
diligently seek Him." This idea of faith is implicit 
in the promise of reward to the giver of the "cup of 
cold water." Note the words, "in the name of a 
disciple," that is, for the disciple's sake! It may be 
that small service expresses but small faith ; the point 
to be emphasized is that it is real faith, and as such 
is recognized. 

A friend of many years ago, Fannie E. Hamlin, 
in a little book from her facile pen, records that 
having read Dorothy Trudell's Life, an account of 
Dr. Cullis' Hospital work, and George Muller's 
"Life of Trust," "I became convinced that God 
honors the least particle of faith man has in Him. 



The Spirit of Service 103 

That He who stoops to number hairs and care for 
sparrows, loves to have us take Him in all the little 
things of life; that to honor Him aright, we must 
accept the lesson He has tried so hard to impart to 
us, — and be willing to lead lives of simple trust, not 
only for spiritual blessing, but in order to be kept 
quiet in our souls." It is not the quantity so much 
as the quality of faith that counts. "If ye have faith 
as a grain of mustard seed," suggests the Master! 



THE REWARDS OF SERVICE 

TT goes without saying that to even satisfactorily 
-■' outline the reward of such service as the Lord en- 
joins and which the world needs, a book much larg- 
er than this modest volume would be taxed, for it is 
still true that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath it entered the heart of man, the things 
God hath prepared for them that love Him" well 
enough to serve Him. The personal and subjective 
aspect of it is definitely set forth by Jesus Himself, 
"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am 
meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest to 
your souls." Who "can measure the content of that 
promise, — comprehend the scope of that reward, — 
"rest unto your souls?" A spiritually-minded friend 
defined it as "quietness and sweetness of soul," and 
illustrated it thus: "I knew one so far ahead of me 
in the Christian journey that I never expect to see 
him in glory unless I travel very fast. I saw him 
under a crushing trial, in the midst of the allies of 
Satan, preserve such sweetness of soul, such peace of 
mind as to be able to say, *I believe I have today 
tasted something akin to the sufferings of our Sav- 
iour in Gethsemane, but Jesus keeps my soul as sweqt 
as Heaven.' " 

104 



The Spirit of Service 105 

It is very necessary to distinguish this *'rest" from 
that of mere inaction. The great rock, immovably 
planted in the earth is undoubtedly at rest, — but 
vastly other is the rest of soul here considered. In- 
stead of being mere inaction, it rather contemplates 
a larger activity, for the mind, heart, soul, in one 
word the life, freed from the carking cares and 
gnawing distrusts incident to the "unstable mind," 
is competent to larger tasks and grander achieve- 
ments. Illustrative of this, the following from one 
of Julia McNair Wright's books is suggestive ; 

"I marvelled much at Hannah Dana while she 
was with us ; she is as short of speech and as silent as 
formerly, but a new patience and compassionateness 
and experience have grown up in her heart, and I 
noticed that every one listened with careful attention 
to all that she said, and that she never wasted a 
word. I said one afternoon to Mr. Reid, as he 
chanced to be sitting near where I was at work, 
'Has Hannah Dana changed, or have I altered so 
much in three years? She appears to me a very dif- 
ferent person from what I thought her long ago!' 
Said Richard Reid, 'Hannah is one of the noblest 
natures that God ever made. No one can know her 
as well as I do without feeling for her not merely re- 
spect but reverence. To those who have seen her as 
I have, rising from the short sleep of winter nights 



io6 The Spirit of Service 

to bend over some sick man's pillow, and comfort 
him with words of the future he is winning for his 
children, or console him with hopes of heaven; who 
have seen her tender as a mother to some dying boy ; 
who have beheld her, brave as a man, in the face of 
some fever maniac; who have watched her on the 
field of battle, when balls were flying around her, 
calmly binding up wounds and giving water to 
thirsty lips; who have heard her in the horrors of 
the night after a bloody conflict praying by some ex- 
piring patriot on the bloody earth; who have seen 
her searching for life in the ghastly faces turned up 
to the sky, — to these would Hannah Dana appear 
glorified as a saint. Strangers see her as a woman 
prematurely old, weather-beaten, gray, plain, abrupt, 
to those of us to whom she is not known as an angel 
of mercy.' 

Now, in order to such service, nothing short of 
the spirit of Christ will avail. How fine are the 
words of Paul, "Let this mind be in you which was 
also in Christ Jesus." Or, as it has been the aim of 
this essay throughout to demonstrate, — the highest 
possible type of spirit is absolutely indispensable for 
sustained fidelity in properly performing tasks which 
superficial, not to say supercilious, folks would pro- 
nounce lowly tasks, — too lowly for such as they im- 
agine themselves to be ! But such "rest of soul" He 



The Spirit of Service 107 

gives only to those who, having learned of Him, arc 
found faithfully treading duty's pathway; and that 
glorious reward for such service He never fails to 
give! 

Another aspect of the promised reward is In- 
creased j — and why not say Increasing? — Power, 
Power in exercise develops larger power. Faith 
employed begets stronger faith. Hear Paul, "Here- 
in I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of 
offence toward God and men always." What but 
prevailing power could come from such persevering, 
faithful practice as is indicated in those pregnant 
words, "Herein do I exercise myself, ... al- 
ways!" 'Tis an old truism, "Practice makes perfect." 
The difference between some men and their fellows 
is just at that point. Equally invested with capacity, 
the same number of eyes and ears, hands and feet, 
and quantity of brain matter, but so unequal in ser- 
vice, capability and achievement. Why ? Because of 
the inequality of spirit, the will to achieve, as ex- 
pressed by patience in study, thoroughness in train- 
ing, fidelity to the requirements of discipline. Let 
Paul speak again, "And if also a man contend in the 
games, he is not crowned, except he have contended 
lawfully." Has not the old hymn striking lessons 
|or us just here? 



io8 The Spirit of Service 

"Am I a soldier of the cross, 
A follower of the Lamb, 
And shall I fear to own His cause, 
Or blush to speak His name? 

Must I be carried to the skies 

On flowery beds of ease, 
While others fought to win the prize, 

And sailed through bloody seas? 

Are there no foes for me to face? 

Must I not stem the flood? 
Is this vile world a friend to grace, 

To help me on to God? 

Sure I must fight, if I would reign; 

Increase my courage. Lord ; 
I'll bear the tbil, endure the pain, 

Supported by Thy word." 

Another aspect of the subject, rich and fruitful, 
grows out of careful consideration of Prayer as a 
form of projnised Power. How profoundly signifi- 
cant the Master's utterance, "If ye abide in Me, and 
My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and 
it shall be done unto you." Here, again, appears the 
essential unity of spirit between the Master and His 
servant, spirit and service, effort and accomplish- 
ment. As vital, indeed, as the relation between the 
vine and the branch, (from the parable illustrative 
of which the quotation is taken) is the relation be-^ 



The Spirit of Service 109 

tween Christ and the Christian; and Paul scruples 
not to pronounce the tremendous judgment, "If any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 
But abiding in Him, we conserve by loving loyalty 
our union with Him, — and His words abiding in 
us, are a treasure given to us, not merely to guard, 
but a talent to use. "Thy word have I hid in mine 
heart, that I might not sin against thee. Thy word 
is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path. The 
entrance of Thy word giveth light. I will walk in 
the way of Thy commandments. He that keepeth My 
commandments, he it is that loveth me ; and we will 
come, My Father and I, and take up our abode with 
him. He that hath My word abiding in him shall 
ask what he will and it shall be done unto him." Oh 
the far-reaching and deep meaning of these words as 
intimating something of the reward accruing to the 
faithful follower of Jesus Christ, — a reward that 
baffles description. Prayer is so integral to the 
Christian life and fundamental to efficient service, 
that command, not to say control, of its forces is 
nothing less than startling. 

Altogether wonderful is the history of prayer, 
— wholly inexplicable to all who attempt its study 
from the standpoint of cold reason; for example, 
the prayer-test of Huxley. The skepticism ani- 
mating such a proposition is a vulgar, blatant 



no The Spirit of Service 

thing in the presence of such holy, quiet confi- 
dence, as finds illustration in the experience of such 
a believer as the Christian woman, who "had under 
her care a young boy in whom she felt much interest. 
It was necessary one night, at a late hour, for him 
to go out upon an errand. Naturally timid, he 
started out in fear and trembling. His friend, in 
sympathy for him, went to prayer that he might be 
relieved of all uncomfortable feeling. She soon felt 
easy, knowing that her prayer was answered. Upon 
returning he said to her, 'You prayed for me while 
I was gone, didn't you?' 'Yes, my boy, but why do 
you ask?' 'Because,' replied he, 'all fear left me at 
the corner; then I was overtaken by a man who 
went with me all the way. I felt sure you were 
praying for me.' " 

What is of special note in this simple narrative 
is the assurance felt by both. Of the suppliant it 
was said, "she felt easy knowing that her prayer was 
answered." Of the object of her prayer, "I felt 
sure you were praying for me." In this wonderful 
and comforting assurance is a hint of the power of 
prayer as a subjective experience no less blessed than 
its objective results. That careful student of the 
deep things of God, S. D. Gordon, gives one of the 
divisions of his book on "Quiet Talks on Prayer," 
the title, "Prayer the Greatest Outlet of Power." In 



The Spirit of Service iii 

that section he asks the following question: "How- 
does it come to pass that a woman in Iowa prays for 
the conversion of her skeptical husband, and he, 
down in the thick of the most absorbing congress 
Washington had known since the civil war, and in 
full ignorance of her purpose becomes conscious and 
repeatedly conscious of the presence and power of 
the God in whose existence he does not believe ; and 
months afterwards with his keen, legally trained 
mind, finds the calendar to fit together the beginning 
of her praying with the beginning of his unwelcome 
consciousness." In another part of the book he gives 
the case with fullness, and so remarkable is it that its 
repetition here is fully justified. 

"The experience I am telling came during that 
congress when the Hayes-Tilden controversy was up, 
the intensest congress Washington had known since 
the Civil War. It was not a time specially suited to 
meditation about God in the halls of Congress. And 
further he said to me that somehow he knew all the 
other skeptics who were in the lower house and they 
drifted together a good bit and strengthened each 
other by their talk. 

"One day as he was in his seat in the lower house, 
in the midst of the business of the hour, there came 
to him the conviction that God — the God in whom 
he did not believe, whose existence he could keenly 



112 The Spirit of Service 

disprove, — God was right there above his head 
thinking about him, and displeased at the way he 
was behaving towards Him. And he said to himself, 
'this is ridiculous, absurd. I've been working too 
hard ; confined too closely ; my mind is getting mor- 
bid. I'll go out, and get some fresh air and shake 
myself.' And so he did. But the conviction only 
deepened and intensified. Day by day it grew. And 
that went on for weeks, into the fourth month as I 
recall his words. Then he planned to return home 
to attend to some business matters, and to attend to 
some preliminaries for securing the nomination for 
the governorship of his state. And as I understand 
he was in a fair way to securing the nomination, so 
far as one can judge of such matters. And his party 
is the dominant party in his state. A nomination for 
governor by his party has usually been followed by 
election. 

"He reached his home and had hardly gotten there 
before he found that his wife and two others had en- 
tered into a holy compact of prayer for his conver- 
sion, and had been so praying for some months. In- 
stantly he thought of his peculiar unwelcome Wash- 
ington experience, and became intensely interested. 
But not wishing them to know of his interest, he 
asked carelessly, when 'this thing began.' His wife 
told him the day. He did some quick mental figur- 



The Spirit of Service 1 13 

ing, and he said to me, *I knew almost instantly that 
the day she named fitted into the calendar with the 
coming of that conviction or impression about God's 
presence.' 

"He was greatly startled. He wanted to be thor- 
oughly honest in all his thinking. And he said he 
knew if a single fact of that sort could be established, 
of prayer producing such results, it carried the whole 
scheme of Christian belief with it. And he did some 
stiff fighting within. Had he been wrong all these 
years? He sifted the matter back and forth as a 
lawyer would the evidence in any case. And he said 
to me, 'As an honest man I was compelled to admit 
the facts, and I believe I might have been led to 
Christ that very night.' 

"A few nights later he knelt at the altar in the 
Methodist meeting-house in his home town and sur- 
rendered his strong will to God. Then came the 
conviction of his boyhood days, he was to preach 
the gospel ! And like Saul of old, he utterly changed 
his life, and has been preaching the gospel with pow- 
er ever since." 

Ah, in view of such a case, illustrative of the pow- 
er of prayer, well may we meditate on the possibili- 
ties and processes of this too-little understood duty 
of the followers of Christ. John A. Wallace has 
put in forceful lines his conception of it, and I deem 



114 The Spirit of Service 

them of sufficient merit to quote here: 

''There is an eye that never sleeps 

Beneath the wing of night; 
There is an ear that never shuts, 
When sinks the beams of light. 

There is an arm that never tires, 
When human strength gives way; 

There is a love that never fails. 
When earthly loves decay. 

That eye is fixed on seraph throngs; 

That arm upholds the sky; 
That ear is filled with angel songs; 

That love is throned on high. 

But there's a power which man can wield, 

When mortal aid is vain. 
That eye, that arm, that love to reach, 

That listening ear to gain. 

That power is prayer, which soars on high, 

Through Jesus, to the throne, 
And moves the hand which moves the world, 

To bring salvation down." 

Of course the limits of this essay forbid the ad- 
ducing of all the illustrations easily available ; let it 
suffice then to hint at the possible content of such 
words as Paul uses in Rom. viii 126-27, "And in like 
manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity, for we 
know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit 
Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings 



The Spirit of Service 115 

which cannot be uttered : and He that searcheth the 
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, be- 
cause He maketh intercession for the saints according 
to the will of God." And deeply significant are the 
words of Jude, v. 20 "But ye, beloved, building up 
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the 
Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, 
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto 
eternal life." 

In these striking words are indicated further lines 
of approach to the heights of privilege, and also of 
prevailing power as implicit in this royal preroga- 
tive of ''fervent, effectual, prevailing prayer," as 
part of the reward assured and bestowed and en- 
joyed even here. Oh, blessed promise, "If ye abide 
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what 
ye will and it shall be done unto you." "Lord, in- 
crease our faith!" "Lord, teach us to pray!" Well 
may we so pray in order to enter upon the enjoyment 
of the promised reward, "If any man serve me, him 
will My Father honor." 

It now remains to note briefly the words, "And 
where I am there shall also My servant be." Identity 
of spirit, identity of work, leading to identity of 
dwelling-place. It would be difficult not to remem- 
ber, in this connection, those heartening words in 
John xiv:i-3, "Let not your heart be troubled, be- 



Ii6 The Spirit of Service 

lieve in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's 
house are many mansions ; if it were not so I would 
have told you ; I go to prepare a place for you. And 
if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and 
will receive you unto Myself ; that where I am, there 
ye may be also." Even more specific and inspiring 
are those wonderful words in His high-priestly 
prayer: "Father, I desire that they also whom thou 
hast given Me be with me where I am, that they may 
behold my glory, which thou hast given Me; for 
thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world." 
"Be with Me where I am." What a temptation 
comes here to indulge in imaginative reasoning as to 
the location and character of "the heavenlies," the 
place of the "Father's House," the "New Jerusa- 
lem," the "heavenly Canaan," the spiritual "Mount 
Zion," 

"The land of rest, the saint's delight. 
The heaven prepared for me." 

But that temptation must be resisted. Enough 
that it will be altogether worthy the Father Whose 
"House" it is, and worthy the love, wisdom, and 
power of the Saviour Who has gone "to prepare a 
place for" us in those celestial mansions. It will be 
worth while, however, to give place here to a quota- 
tion from the gifted author of "The Tongue of 



The Spirit of Service 117 

Fire," the Rev. William Arthur, (whose prized au- 
tograph I secured at the Ecumenical Conference in 
Washington, D. C. 1891), from his remarkable es- 
say on ''The Divinity of our Lord, in Relation to 
His Work of Atonement." "Novir, therefore, when 
we would hearken to John the Baptist, when we 
would behold the Lamb of God, where shall we be 
able to find that we may behold Him? Master, 
where dwellest Thou ? Martyrs ! is He at the head 
of your noble army ? Not amongst us, higher. Apos- 
tles, prophets! stands He first in your fellowship? 
Not among us, higher. Patriarchs! is it He that 
leadeth your reverend company? Not among us, 
higher. Angels, then! is He the Captain of your 
host? Not of us, higher. And ye Four of the 
many eyes, nearest to the infinite Light, most able to 
receive it ! is He not of you? Not of us, higher. And 
now must the awe-struck eye, after having in search 
of the Lamb of God traversed all the tracks of heav- 
enly light, after having scrutinized all the forms of 
immortal strength and angelic beauty, timidly begin 
to raise itself higher still that it may range on the 
proper line. Passing, then, above all created beings, 
as when seeking the risen sun it ranges above even 
the peaks of everlasting snow, finally does it dare to 
rest on the dazzling glory of The Throne, and lo! 
'in the midst of the throne and of the four living 



Ii8 The Spirit of Service 

creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb 
standing as though it had been slain.' Standing! 
yea. He alone, when all creatures bow; standing 
above all the summits of dignity and power; stand- 
ing, literally, the Most High over all, God blessed 
forever!" 

Oh how high the exaltation of Him whom in our 
opening pages we discovered in the lowly employ- 
ment of washing the disciples' feet ! How finely the 
extremes are comprehended in that matchless pas- 
sage of Paul, (Phil. 2:5-11) "Have this mind in 
you, which was also in Christ Jesus ; Who, existing 
in the form of God, counted not the being on an 
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied 
Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in 
the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a 
man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto 
death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also 
God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the 
name which is above every name; that in the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven 
and things on earth, and things under the earth ; and 
that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father." 

As I near the end of this book, — grown to a 
length not contemplated at the beginning, — a sense 
of incompleteness and insufficiency saddens me. The 



The Spirit of Service ' 119 

attempt and its results, however, have enabled mc 
better to appreciate the words of Justin Martyr: "I 
would fain, O Divine Son of Mary, feeble as I am, 
have said some great thing of Thee." Maybe it was 
presumptuous in me to have tried so fine a task; if 
so, may the Merciful Master graciously pardon the 
presumption, while yet He may mercifully vouchsafe 
His blessing to the endeavor to honor Him and fos- 
ter in His present-day disciples the desire to emulate 
Him, in some such fashion as Paul indicates in his 
striking words, (2 Cor. iii:i8) "But we all, with 
unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of 
the Lord, are transformed into the same image from 
glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." 
Amen! 



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